The Four Oracles
by Finalball Z
Summary: Cloud has been entrusted, by the Four Oracles, with a legendary quest to unite four distant planets...and win the ultimate war against darkness...FF 7/8/9/10/10-2 Crossover!!!!
1. Cloud's Visions

Foreword- I own nothing about Squaresoft. The names of the characters are owned by Squaresoft. Any other names I use in this fanfic that do not belong to Squaresoft I have made up with my own imagination. Please Read and Review. Any reviews will be appreciated. Now, on with the fanfic.  
  
Life on Archemus wasn't ordinary. Archemus was a place where poverty reigned. There were ruins of huge corporate buildings everywhere. The people who inhabited Archemus mostly lived in slums, just out of reach of the nearest city's limits.  
  
Gangsters lived everywhere. There was never a day that passed where someone wasn't robbed, killed, shot, kidnapped etc. on Archemus.  
  
People hated living here. But no one as much as a shadowy, mysterious man named Cloud Strife. Cloud, along with his friends Tifa, Vincent, Cid, and Yuffie were going to find a way to a different planet. A better planet. One where someone would want to live.  
  
Cloud and company's most recent planet escaping failure had been the attempt of kidnapping one of Shinra's Star fighters. Although Cloud knew most of the Shinra Corporate buildings like the back of his hand, they still could not manage to capture even one fighter. This was a huge blow to their morale.  
  
Cloud and company had just arrived at the train station. "Man," said Cloud in frustration, "That was a complete failure! And a complete waste of time!"  
  
"Chill Cloud," chipped in Tifa, "We'll make it off of this planet sometime or another. I just know we will. You just have to believe"  
  
"It's easier said than done. And now it's going to be a bit harder. Look at the screen," interjected Vincent, pointing at the nearest television monitor.  
  
"This just in: Sephiroth, the man infused with Jenova cells that summoned the huge meteor to destroy our planet, has escaped his prison and is on a rampage. From what one of the workers at Sephiroth's prison said it appears he is looking for some sort of Planetary Spirit or something like that. (Camera shows worker from prison on screen) -'Uh yeah, Sephiroth was prone to having nightmares in his cell at night. During several such nightmares other workers said that they heard him talking about.. "Escaping and retrieving the planet's spirit so he could cause our planets destruction.".. These were the orders of someone he kept calling Ultimicea. So be on the lookout for this severely dangerous man. If you know about the whereabouts of such a spirit then please, tell us, we cannot take chances. Any info will be rewarded. This is Wallace for the Shinra Elite News.. This is all and good night."  
  
"Oh no! With all of this extra security we'll never be able to lift anything off of the ground. well I guess we'll have to find another way," sighed Cid. Cid looked up and saw that Cloud was unconscious on the ground.. "Cloud...? Are you ok?"  
  
Cloud was not ok. Inside his mind visions of other worlds danced around in his head. Visions of floating schools, black mages running around everywhere, people playing sports in spheres of water. The image of the floating school went from hazy, to crystal clear in a matter of seconds.  
  
Cloud awoke. He didn't recognize his surroundings. He was surrounded by lush green trees. He could hear the sounds of a small village nearby. Behind him the bushes started to rustle.  
  
"Who's there?" said Cloud. Cloud was surprised. The voice that had left his mouth was not his own. It was a little deeper than his voice.  
  
"It's just me Squall," said a strange woman wearing a blue dress as she emerged from the underbrush. Cloud was confused. Who was Squall and why did this woman think that was who he was? He decided to find out.  
  
"Squall? Who's Squall?" asked Cloud in a very confused voice.  
  
"Well you are silly. Who else would you be?" replied the woman with a smile.  
  
"I am not who you think I am," said Cloud, "I have no idea where I am. I do not see why you keep calling me Squall. I have no idea how I was brought here. I fell unconscious at the train station and I woke up here. Now if you could start explaining some stuff that would be great."  
  
"Ok Squall.. quit playing games. It's time to get back to class. Our break is over now." The woman told Cloud. Her smile was gone and she looked kind of worried.  
  
"Ok. What part of 'I'm not Squall' don't you understand?" asked Cloud in frustration, "Would you happen to have a picture of this 'Squall" so I could compare the two of us?"  
  
"Ok.. whatever you say..Squall." The lady added with a smile as she pulled out a mirror and a picture. "Ok see this. This is your Balamb Garden portrait."  
  
Cloud examined it. "Ok lady-"  
  
"Rinoa"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Rinoa.. that's my name. Not 'Lady'"  
  
"Ok Rinoa. See this guy's hair. It's brown. My hair is blonde. His isn't sticking up. Mine is. And I don't have a scar on my face. There is no resemblance between us."  
  
Rinoa looked pale. "Uh, Squall are you ok.. I mean seriously.. do you need to go to the infirmary? I'm going to show you you're reflection now, ok?" Rinoa held up the mirror.  
  
Now it was Cloud's turn to turn pale. The face looking back at him was the same face he saw in the portrait. "How is this possible? I AM that guy. Uhhh.. Rinoa? Where are we? And what planet is this?" asked cloud as he stared at his reflection in the mirror.  
  
"We are near Balamb. And we are on the planet Bylandrias. But I guess this doesn't matter to you since you are not Squall. So who are you anyway?" wondered Rinoa.  
  
"My name is Cloud Strife. I live on the planet Archemus.."  
  
"Archemus?! I thought that planet was way too polluted to support life! At least that is what they teach us at Balamb Garden." Rinoa interjected.  
  
"Well whoever is teaching you that is giving you wrong information."  
  
"I'll have to tell the professor about this. In the meantime you're going to have to go through some serious Squall training." Rinoa explained.  
  
"There is no need. I will not be staying here for long. I must leave this place because I fear my friends are still back on Archemus. I must return to them."  
  
"Wait. I have a question. If you are here in Squall's body, then what happened to Squall? Do you think he is on Archemus in your body?"  
  
"There is no way to find out. My guess is probably yes. Or for some reason I have overpowered Squall's conscious mind and have taken over his body. If this was to happen only an Oracle of the Planets could cause such a miracle."  
  
"Oracle of the planets?" asked Rinoa.  
  
"You can't tell me you don't know about the Oracles of the Planets. Oracles are the living souls of a Planet. Our Oracle is called Archemidius. He has complete control over all aspects of life on Archemus. Although he has this power He seems to not want to interfere with the people of our planet. Which is why it is the way it is. Your planet's Oracle must be a gracious one because you have been blessed with a great many things. The peaceful surroundings are one thing. You have trees and water everywhere. Archemus is very barren. my friends and I have been dying to get off that planet ever since we were each 15" Cloud explained to a mesmerized Rinoa.  
  
"That is enchanting." responded Rinoa in an airy voice. "Huh? Squall.. err.. I mean Cloud? Are you alright?"  
  
Cloud's vision was beginning to fog up. He felt woozy. And as fast as he awoke he fell asleep again. More colorful worlds randomly erupted into his mind. Cloud's twisted, mysterious adventure to save his world was about to begin. He just didn't know it yet..  
  
Afterword- Ok I guess it's not that great of a beginning. The rest of the story will be better. Any reviews would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for reading! 


	2. The Journey Begins

Foreword- Ok back to the story. Once again I do not own anything about Squaresoft. Also any names not owned by Squaresoft I created myself.  
  
The visions that swirled through Cloud's head were beginning to fade. The clouds of smoke that swirled in his mind were overpowering the visions. Cloud felt nausea, even though he was unconscious.  
  
All of the sudden the visions returned in full force. The visions were clearer than ever. A huge flash erupted in Cloud's mind and he awoke again.  
  
Cloud was surprised by what he saw. Himself. He was back on Archemus. But he hadn't returned into his body. He ran up to his unconscious body. Barret shoved him away. "Fool! Get back! You of all people have no business being around this man! Now Scram! NOW!" Cid yelled at Cloud.  
  
"Cid! You don't understand...."  
  
"I'll show you understand!" Cid said while he picked up Cloud and threw him back several feet. "Now if you don't get lost I'll have to deal with you myself!"  
  
When Cloud got up he found himself looking at his reflection on the side of a piece of broken glass hanging by a metal wire. He was in the body of a Shinra Jenovian Genetics Scientist. "Great," Cloud thought, "Of all the bodies to fall into I have to fall into this one."  
  
"Cloud!" Cloud turned- "Hey he's coming around. Stand back everyone and give him his room..." remarked Tifa with delight.  
  
Cloud's body's eyes opened and blinked. "Where am I?" It felt weird to Cloud to hear his voice coming from somewhere.  
  
"Duh Cloud. You're at the Train Station. We have to get on the train now. It's about to depart and this is the last time it will be running tonight. We don't want to have to walk home do we?" explained Yuffie looking at a watch.  
  
"Who is in my body," thought Cloud to himself, "I better follow them to see if I can learn anything" But Cloud wouldn't have to follow them to find out about the stranger in his body. Cloud's body introduced himself.  
  
"Hello Tifa. Yuffie, Vincent, Cid. Sorry about that..."  
  
Cloud was speechless. The stranger knew their names?! Now how would he convince them that the Cloud that was apologizing to them wasn't him at all? He sat down.  
  
"I didn't mean to scare you all like that, but I had a reason to do this." explained stranger-Cloud to the others, "I have taken Cloud's body..." Cloud looked up. "You see I am the oracle, the living soul, of the planet Freeiai. My name is Frai. I have come to report to you that Cloud is the chosen one. He must explain our cause to all of the people on this planet, Bylandrias, Freeiai, and Spira. He must also find the Oracle stones. Please allow me to explain myself. The four Oracles of the four planets I spoke of, including this one, have no control over the darkness that resides in their planet. This is why we must fuse the four planets and become 1 Oracle. With all of our combined powers fused into one Oracle we may be able to control the darkness of the new planet. Cloud must go on a journey. He must find the four Oracle Stones on each of the planets before anyone else finds them. I believe a man named Sephiroth has already begun searching for the Stone of this planet. If he succeeds in finding this before Cloud does then all hope of our plan is lost. The darkness will overpower the four planets and then we Oracles will die. We cannot let this happen because if it does then all other planets will also be enveloped in darkness. The universe will be reduced to nothing but evil and hatred. Love and Joy will cease to exist. You must help Cloud. You must find the Stone of Archemus. The fate of the universe depends on your ability to find this Stone. The stones of the other planets are not yet being searched for. But when someone does decide to find them for reasons of Evil and Despair then Cloud will be sent to retrieve that stone. I will give Cloud back his body now. I will return to the body I once occupied. Good luck. We are counting on you."  
  
Cloud didn't even have to blink before he was back into his body. He was relieved to be staring at the surprised and confused faces of his friends. "So then," Cloud said, "I believe we have a mission to do." The others nodded.  
  
"We should probably stock up on supplies and Materia," suggested Vincent who was already counting out his stashed supply of Gil, "We may have to fight Sephiroth. That won't be a walk in the park so we best be prepared for anything."  
  
"We don't need to buy Materia Vincent," explained Yuffie, "I have my own stash we can use... you do remember that I am a Materia Hunter don't you. I have all sorts. Even some summon Materia. Although I think I only have Shiva."  
  
"Any summon Materia is better than nothing," interjected Cloud, while writing down a list of needed supplies. He handed the list to Vincent who nodded and walked off.  
  
"Well when Vincent is back we get going." suggested Cid.  
  
"Cloud? Aren't you kinda surprised that you had to be the Chosen One? Are you sure that you can handle the responsibility?" asked Tifa quietly.  
  
"Tifa, I helped you guys stop a meteor from destroying our planet. I think I can handle a little responsibility," said Cloud.  
  
"Yeah, but that was just to protect THIS planet. What about having the fate of the ENTIRE UNIVERSE resting on your shoulders? The two responsibilities are no where near the same!" replied Tifa, who sounded worried.  
  
"Hey, don't sound so worried. If the Oracles believe in Cloud then we have a good reason to believe in him too. I think Cloud can do it. There is no one better for the job." said Cid, standing up from the bench he was sitting on.  
  
Vincent walked up carrying a bag of goods. "I got some Materia just in case," Vincent explained. Yuffie seemed offended but quickly changed her expression.  
  
So Cloud and company started their long journey to save the universe. But little did they know that the Sephiroth and the Stone were a little closer than they imagined...  
  
Afterword- I hope this was a little better than the first chapter. This was another introductory Chapter. The 3rd chapters and beyond will include more action. Remember to review my story! Thanks for reading! 


	3. Location Confirmed

Foreword (Again) - I own nothing about Squaresoft. All names not owned by Squaresoft I have made up on my own.  
  
Cloud checked through the bag of Materia Vincent had gotten. "Uhhh... how did u get this Ifrit summon Materia? I thought you could only buy Materia like this in major cities. And even then it's hard."  
  
"I have my ways." Vincent explained. The group had been walking for about 2 hours now. They saw no sign of Sephiroth which they thought was good. It wouldn't have been cool if he had shown up so early in their journey.  
  
"Uhhh...Cloud? How are we even supposed to find this stone? Do you have any idea where it is? Are we even going the right direction?" asked Yuffie.  
  
"No idea."  
  
"Then why did we come this way?"  
  
"The nearest Chocobo stable is this way. We will need some Chocobos if we are to get to the stone before Sephiroth."  
  
"Good point. But how are we going to afford the Chocobos? We spent all of our gil on supplies."  
  
"I guess we will have to figure that out when we get there, won't we?"  
  
"Yeah I guess..." Yuffie was cut off by an ear piercing roar coming out of the forest.  
  
"That doesn't sound good!" said Cloud as he drew his buster sword from the holster on his back. Vincent pulled out a gun, while Cid grabbed his spear. All of the sudden a huge jet of flames erupted from the forest. The smell of burnt air filled the air.  
  
"What could it be?!" yelled Tifa, who was terrified. Tifa could fight well up close and personal but she would not be much help against a monster that could breathe fire.  
  
"I have no idea, I guess we'll have to wait and find out." said Cloud, sounding calm but who was little more nervous than he'd like to admit.  
  
The monster smashed through the scorched trees. It was mad, mad that something it didn't like entered its territory. The monster was a Red Dragon.  
  
"Uh oh." remarked Cid, "I probably won't be that much help here" He gestured at his spear. It was small, and the blade would not be strong enough to penetrate the dragon's thick scales. "I'll leave this up to you Cloud."  
  
Cloud gestured for the bag that Yuffie kept on her belt. She tossed Cloud the bag who instantly began searching for the Shiva Materia. "Yuffie! Vincent! You guys will have to distract it! You have long range weapons I don't. As soon as I find the Shiva Materia I will call her. But you must hold it off until then." Yuffie and Vincent nodded.  
  
"HEY DRAGON OVER HERE!" called Vincent while he blasted the Dragon with about 10 rounds. Blood gushed from the newly formed wounds. The dragon was furious.  
  
It was Yuffie's turn. Using her stealth techniques she was able to get the forest without being noticed by the dragon. Cid and Tifa hadn't even noticed she had gone. The only reason they knew she was in the forest was the long stream of ninja stars erupting from the tree line. The stars lacerated the dragon's skin, causing a river of blood to erupt from the huge cut that the stars had made. Tifa flinched. She didn't like blood much.  
  
The dragon turned back toward the tree line. He roared and then without warning shot a blast of fire into the trees. Tifa screamed. "YUFFIE!!!!!"  
  
Cloud looked up. He didn't see Yuffie. Neither Cloud, Tifa, nor Cid noticed that she was standing right behind them. Perfectly fine. Tifa was startled when a ninja star whizzed passed her at a mind boggling speed. The star landed a direct hit into the dragon's eye. Blood was now streaming down the dragons face at an alarming rate.  
  
The dragon was slowing down now. He was dying slowly. The dragon let out a roar. Then the dragon disappeared. The next thing Vincent knew he was being pinned against a huge rock by the dragon. Vincent had never seen a dragon move that fast in his life. The dragon pushed with all of might against Vincent, trying to crush him to death. Vincent screamed in agony.  
  
  
  
  
  
Cloud grabbed his sword. "Tifa! Look for the Shiva Materia for me! I need to help Vincent!" Cloud tossed Tifa the bag. Cloud was never so frantic in his life. Yuffie whizzed a fresh supply of stars into the dragon's side causing him to bellow in pain.  
  
Cloud reached the dragon just in time. Just as the dragon drew in a huge breath, readying himself to incinerate Vincent, Cloud stabbed his sword into the dragons open wound. The dragon roared in pain. Yuffie suddenly appeared above Vincent and hurdled another star into the dragon's other eye. The dragon was now blind.  
  
The dragon was now dying of loss of blood. The dragon had created a pool of blood that was now up to Cloud's ankles. Cloud could see now that the dragon would try anything to kill Vincent. He stabbed his sword in deeper. He felt the satisfying feeling of his sword scraping bone. The dragon flailed around in agony.  
  
Tifa still searched frantically for the Shiva Materia. Even though the dragon was dying you never know what can happen in battle. At least this was Tifa's philosophy so she kept searching.  
  
Yuffie shot another star into the dragon's nose. He roared again. This time Yuffie flung a small knife into the dragon's mouth. it erupted through the back of the dragon's head. Blood was now gushing out of the dragon's mouth in random spurts. Yuffie appeared behind Tifa so she could watch what was happening from afar and plan her next move.  
  
Cloud decided to end it here and now. With one final shove of his sword he ripped through the dragon's heart muscle. "Yuffie! I need you to slam on the handle of my sword for me! You are the fastest one here!" called Cloud, who was now basically matted with blood. Yuffie nodded.  
  
Out of nowhere Yuffie appeared about 50 feet into the air. She slammed onto the handle of Cloud's sword which sent it tearing through the dragon's already damaged heart and through the skin again taking a chunk out of the dragon. Before the blade could hit Yuffie she disappeared. The sword landed about 10 feet away from the growing pool of blood. Cloud retrieved it.  
  
Tifa finally found the Shiva Materia from the bag. She held it up to the air and called to Shiva. "Oh Shiva, gallant goddess of ice! Lend us your strength for we need you now!" The small blue rock that Tifa held in her hand began to glow. All of the sudden a beam of light erupted from the rock and into the sky. A blue portal appeared after a few seconds.  
  
Shiva erupted from the clouds in a flash of blue and white. She landed right in front of Tifa. "You have summoned the great and beautiful Shiva, Goddess of Ice. I am at your command." Shiva told Tifa.  
  
"I need you to destroy that dragon over there." said Tifa gesturing toward the dying beast in exasperation, it took a lot out of ya to summon something from a summon Materia. Shiva laughed and nodded. She took off toward the dragon. She flew right over the dragon and hovered just above the dragons head. Shiva began to chant some strange, but mesmerizing words. A huge frozen ball of energy was beginning to form over Shiva's head. She continued her chant. Cloud had already begun to run toward Tifa and Cid.  
  
Vincent was still held captive by the evil beast. He struggled to get free but he could not. Yuffie noticed Vincent was still not free and decided to help him. Yuffie reached into her bag and pulled out about 15 small daggers. She flung these with lightning swiftness at one of the dragon's arms. The dragon roared in pain and lifted the injured arm. Vincent was able to break free from the other arm and escape.  
  
Vincent escaped just in time. The dragon let out a huge sea of flames that would have killed Vincent if had still been against the rock. Vincent arrived safely back with the others. he was breathing hard because his lungs had been under a lot of pressure due to the dragon's attempt to crush Vincent.  
  
Shiva's ball was complete. It wasn't that big but the apparent power of the ball was mind-boggling. The ball shot out small tendrils of electricity. Shiva smiled then pointed her finger at the dragon. She yelled and then the ball of energy shot toward the dragon. A huge flash filled the air.  
  
When cloud finally opened his eyes he was startled by what he saw. Time had stopped and a cloaked figure stood before him.  
  
"Cloud." the figure said in an airy voice.  
  
"What is going on here?" asked Cloud in alarm.  
  
"Cloud, it is I, Archemidius. I have grave news from Bylandrias. Someone named Seifer is now searching for the Bylandrias stone. You must find the Stone of Archemus very quickly. If you allow even one of the stones to be found by someone with darkness in their hearts our plan will be ruined. You must travel to Bylandrias and find that stone immediately after you find the Stone of this planet. You cannot take your body with you though. You remember when you were in Squall's body don't you? That was a mistake made by us Frai. She accidentally sent herself into the wrong body which sent you into Squall's. Well it turns out that you must use Squall's body so you were lucky she made that mistake. At least you now know a little bit about the surroundings of Bylandrias. You will be able to control Squall's conscious mind. This is what you were doing before. By the way, this Seifer man seems to be Squall's close rival so this complicates things just a little bit. I give you this Materia. You can use it travel between the four worlds. The bodies you will control are already predetermined. You must hold this up and say 'The Chosen One wishes to travel to' then say whichever planet you need to go to. The Materia will be useless after the four worlds are fused. Oh and when you are away from your own body it will become dormant. You should explain this to your friends that way they don't freak out. I can't keep time stopped for much longer so I give you this gift. It is called the Oracle Sword. It is the sword for the Chosen One. It is much more powerful than the sword you are now using. Please use it well. I bid you farewell. Good luck."  
  
Another huge flash erupted into Cloud's eyes. After he blinked a few times time had started up again. The dragon was now reduced to a pile of shattered glacial shards. The blood had even been frozen. Shiva was no where to be found.  
  
"Wow Cloud! Neat sword you have there! How'd you get it that fast?" wondered Yuffie.  
  
"The Oracle of our planet gave it to me. He stopped time to give me a message. Someone is looking for the Stone on Bylandrias. We had better hurry up finding this one." explained Cloud. Tifa gasped.  
  
"How are we supposed to hurry up when we don't even know where the damn stone is?!" exclaimed Cid in a rage that last a split-second.  
  
"I have no idea," said Cloud, "But I have a feeling, a strong one, that we are going in the right direction." Cid shook his head.  
  
Cloud felt uncomfortable because he was still caked in blood. He reached into Yuffie's bag and grabbed out a water Materia. He held it up and yelled, "Water!" A small bubble of water formed around Cloud and the blood was washed off of him...for the most part anyways.  
  
"We should get going. Who knows if another one of those dragons will come...or even worse...Sephiroth." exclaimed Tifa. Cloud and the others nodded.  
  
Cloud and company started walking again toward the Chocobo stables that were located just out of the outskirts of a huge city called Midgar. Vincent at times would have to stop because of what the dragon did to his lungs. On one occasion he even collapsed and fell unconscious. This slowed down the pace.  
  
All of the sudden Cloud's vision was beginning to fog up. An image appeared in his mind. Fog slightly dimmed the image but Cloud knew what it was. The Oracle was giving him the location of the Shrine that contained the stone. He recognized this place. It was near a small village by the Mountains of Breeasd. He would be able to find this place quite easily... but all he needed was an airship.  
  
Cloud woke up just a little bit before Vincent awoke. He informed the others that he knew where the stone was. They were stunned by this information. Cod suggested that they use his almost completed Highwind. This was being constructed in the great city of Midgar. It would take them about 1 more day to complete it.  
  
"We should get there by the time it's finished if we can finally get to the damn Chocobo stables. I hope the searcher on the Planet Bylandrias doesn't find it within the day it will take us to find the Stone here," explained Cid. The group nodded.  
  
The group, still sort of shaken by the confrontation with the dragon began their journey again. This time they weren't wandering. They had a place to be. They were going to kick it into high gear as soon as Vincent got some rest.  
  
With all of the excitement of the day still fresh on their minds the group failed to notice the shadowy figured with flowing silver hair watching them from the top of a low mountain...  
  
Afterword- I hope this had enough blood for you! I tried to make the fight as detailed as possible. Anyway. thanks for reading! Please review! 


	4. Sephiroth Attacks!

Foreword (Again) - Just read the one on previous chapters. The very first foreword deals with the whole story. I will no longer post a foreword. If you read the first one then you know that I don't own Squaresoft. I don't see the need to repeat myself. So from now on the forewords at the beginning of upcoming chapters will cease to exist. Ok, now that I got that out of the way on with the fic.  
  
The shadowy figure followed Cloud and company for a long while. He watched them. He wanted what they were after.  
  
Cloud hadn't noticed the man yet. Cloud was too busy thinking about the Bylandrias Stone. The others were just walking along.  
  
It had been 2 hours since their fight with the dragon. When would they arrive at the Chocobo farm? They should have been there by now.  
  
"Uhhh...Cloud? What are we supposed to do with the stone when we find it?" asked Yuffie, who seemed to be thinking deeply about the subject.  
  
Cloud was startled by the question. "Honestly Yuffie, I have no idea. I guess it will come to me once we find it but I don't know how long that will be. It seems that we have been walking for hours. We should have arrived at the stables by now."  
  
"Yeah. I remember it being around here the last time we were here. I remember that mountain over there. You see it? It's the one that looks like a deformed bird." explained Tifa.  
  
"That entire mountain range looks like deformed birds." said Cid with a snort.  
  
The cloaked stranger was still behind them. He was more intent on following than ever before. They were still feeding him with the information he needed. "These cretins are more useful to me than I thought they would be. I am surprised they killed the dragon that I unleashed upon them," the stranger thought to himself.  
  
All of the sudden Yuffie gasped and pointed. The others looked at where she was pointing thinking she had seen a monster. They relaxed a little after they saw that she had found the Chocobo stables.  
  
"Let's Go!" yelled Tifa with excitement. Both Tifa and Yuffie took off toward the stables. Cloud, Cid, and Vincent soon followed.  
  
The man at the Chocobo stables was a little surprised when Tifa and Yuffie arrived at the front door to the barn. They scared him out of his wits when they both yelled "HELLO! IS ANYONE HERE!" at the top of their lungs.  
  
"Hello. I am back here. In stall number 6!" yelled the Chocobo man. Tifa and Yuffie walked back to him. "Yeah... we need some Chocobos." explained Tifa to the man.  
  
"Well you've come to the right place. How many do you need?" asked the man.  
  
"We need 5."  
  
"Oooo... sorry but the most we have here are four. Will that do ya?" wondered the man apologetically.  
  
"Uhhh.. sure. Yeah we'll take them." said Tifa.  
  
"Ok that will be a total of 5,000 gil," said the man. Tifa gasped.  
  
"5,000?!?!?!?!?"  
  
"Yes, many people have just been stealing them. So I had to up the price, I need to make a profit." said the man.  
  
"All we have is Materia. Can we trade you?" wondered Yuffie.  
  
"No... I will only accept..." The man couldn't finish what he was saying. Tifa had knocked him unconscious.  
  
"We will give you your 5,000 gil when we get ok!" she yelled at the unconscious man. By this time Cloud and the others had arrived. Cloud ran up to Tifa.  
  
"What did you do this for?!" Cloud wondered in surprise.  
  
"We need these Chocobos. Are we going to let 5,000 Gil get in the way of you saving the universe? He's lucky I didn't kill him." said Tifa.  
  
"Well ok let's saddle up." said Cid, "I want to ride this one"  
  
"Uhhh... Cid. You'll be riding this," said Yuffie, as she tossed him the Shiva Materia, "You need to get there before us. If you get there first then you can fly back here and pick us up. It may get us ahead of Sephiroth."  
  
Cid nodded. He held up the stone to the sky. "Oh Shiva, Gallant Goddess of Ice! I need you now!"  
  
Shiva appeared just as she had hours ago. "What can I do for you?" she asked.  
  
"I need you to take me to Midgar, on the double." explained Cid to Shiva.  
  
Shiva nodded. "Hold on...tight. I can fly pretty fast." Shiva turned and Cid grabbed a hold of her shoulders. She took off just as she knew Cid had a good grip.  
  
Cloud and the others started going in the direction of Midgar. They were going twice as fast as before, now that they were riding Chocobos.  
  
The cloaked man didn't like this current change of events. If they got on the airship then he would fail. He was desperate now. He needed to do something fast. He held up a Fire Materia. "Fire!" he muttered.  
  
Cloud's Chocobo was blown out from underneath him. Tifa screamed. When Cloud got up he saw what she was screaming about. His Chocobo was now a scorched pile of feathers and ash. Cloud fought nausea. The smell of the dead animal was getting to him.  
  
Yuffie already had her ninja stars out and ready. Vincent had his gun loaded. Tifa just got done attaching her knew body armor and spike knuckles to her "Beat-Down Gloves" when the cloaked man charged out of the tree line behind them.  
  
Cloud recognized the hair on the cloaked man. He had seen it many times before. He quickly grabbed the Oracle Sword from the holster. He ran forward.  
  
"Sephiroth! I will not allow you to retrieve the stone!" yelled Cloud at the top of his lungs. The other's eyes went wide when they realized that it was Sephiroth that was charging toward them.  
  
Sephiroth stopped dead in his tracks. He was maybe 15 feet away from the group. "Foolish boy! You think you stand a chance against me? I have never lost a battle and I don't plan to now!"  
  
Yuffie flung a ninja star at Sephiroth. The ninja star was split in two before it even reached Sephiroth. No one had even seen him move. Yuffie backed away in worry.  
  
"Guys! He is much faster than you think. If you let your guard down even for a second you will die!" yelled Cloud to the others. Cloud glared at Sephiroth who smirked back at him. The ground in front of Cloud exploded upward. After the dust settled Cloud was disturbed to find that Sephiroth had been the cause.  
  
"I didn't expect you to hold your ground." said Sephiroth to Cloud snyly, "You are much braver than I expected."  
  
"You don't scare me Sephiroth." replied Cloud in a calm but angry voice, "Let's go." Sephiroth nodded. Cloud and Sephiroth disappeared. The only reason the others knew they were there was because of the constant sound of metal clanging metal.  
  
Cloud and Sephiroth matched blows for about 5 minutes at lightning speed. Cloud was beginning to tire out. The strain from moving so fast had left him out of breath. Sephiroth found this to be the perfect time to strike. Sephiroth swung with all of his might. A huge monster blocked the sword. He threw Sephiroth back several feet.  
  
Tifa had found it to be the perfect time to call Ifrit, the Ferocious God of Fire. Ifrit was fiercer than Shiva was. He was also stronger.  
  
Sephiroth frowned at the beast. He had almost secured his victory in finding the Stone. But thanks to this beast he had missed what may have been his only chance to defeat Cloud. Sephiroth knew that this monster was no match for him.  
  
Ifrit charged at Sephiroth. He had no idea that this was suicide. The only thing Ifrit knew was to follow the orders given to him by the on who awoke him from his tiny Materia prison. Ifrit swung his huge fist which Sephiroth dodged with ease. Sephiroth swung at the beast's hand. The sword sliced through the skin like it was paper. The sounds of metal scraping against bone filled the air.  
  
Ifrit took another swing at Sephiroth. Sephiroth dodged this attack as well but not as easily as he dodged the first. Sephiroth removed his sword from Ifrit's wrist. The huge Beast roared in agony. Sephiroth appeared just in front of the beast. Ifrit lunged at Sephiroth. Sephiroth dodged to the right and lunged upward with his sword, cutting off Ifrit's right arm. Blood gushed all over Sephiroth. Sephiroth smiled.  
  
Ifrit lifted is head to the sky and roared ferociously. Sephiroth jumped onto Ifrit's head and jabbed his sword deep into Ifrit's flesh. His sword stabbed through the back of his head. Sephiroth brought the sword upward, causing Ifrit's head to be split in two from his nose up. Sephiroth landed and lunged forward delivering the final blow to the beast. Sephiroth liked the vibrations that ran through his sword as Ifrit's hearts took its last few beats.  
  
The Materia that Tifa was holding in her hand shattered and Ifrit disappeared. Sephiroth took his blood-stained sword and wiped it off in the grass. "That better not be all you guys have got," remarked Sephiroth in a very calm voice, "If it is then you are doomed. The universe will be consumed with darkness. There is no way you can defeat me."  
  
"We will defeat you Sephiroth. You better believe it. You will die today. We promise you." said Cloud in a cool, dark voice. Cloud's eyes were filled with hatred. Cloud took out his sword and disappeared.  
  
Sephiroth disappeared at the exact same moment. A huge flash of lightning erupted where Sephiroth had just been standing. The figures of Sephiroth and Cloud appeared after the flash had died down. They were in a deadlock. They were both pushing with all of their might.  
  
Sephiroth's weapon was under too much strain. Sephiroth was now filled with adrenaline. He gave a final push. Cloud stumbled back and Sephiroth regained himself. He held his sword toward Cloud, who was now back into his fighting stance.  
  
Yuffie fired a star at Sephiroth as a last ditch effort to divert his attention from Cloud. Sephiroth put his sword in front of the star. Yuffie heard the clang of the star hitting the sword.  
  
Sephiroth suddenly started swing his sword all around his body randomly. Somehow he was managing to keep the star moving after about a minute of swinging he fired the star back at Yuffie. At the last second Yuffie caught it between her hands in the same way you would try to kill a mosquito when it is directly in front of your face. Yuffie smiled evilly. Blood flowed from her open thumbs.  
  
Tifa was scared now. She had never been in such a bad predicament. She slumped onto the ground and began to cry.  
  
Yuffie felt lucky. She fired another star at Sephiroth. He did the same spinning thing as before this time firing it at the sobbing Tifa. Tifa looked up just in time to see the star that went right between her eyes. Tifa's hand fell to her side limply. Blood was gushing from the wound. Tifa's lifeless body collapsed on the battlefield.  
  
Cloud stared blankly at Tifa's bleeding corpse. How could it be that in a matter of seconds someone he loved dearly could be taken away from him? The anger in Cloud's heart turned to grief. He stared at Sephiroth, his eyes showing immense loathing toward the smiling man right in front of him. Cloud could not speak.  
  
"I will kill you. I will avenge Tifa." Cloud mouthed to Sephiroth. Sephiroth just laughed and shook his head.  
  
"She wasn't worth your time. She couldn't even stand to see a monster die. A mere tool, get killed. I was doing the world a favor. There is no need for weaklings like her to exist on this world. Plus she looks better that way." Sephiroth smirked.  
  
Cloud's anger was overwhelming. He could barely control it. All he could do was let it go. He did. Cloud charged Sephiroth. Sephiroth was startled by this sudden move but easily dodged Cloud's swinging sword.  
  
Cloud turned quickly and swung again. Anger was getting the better of Cloud's judgment.  
  
Cloud got a hold of himself. His attacks were now far more tactical than before. He managed to sheer off Sephiroth's right hand. Blood gushed from the newly opened wound. Cloud was getting used to the smell of blood and dying. He now no longer felt nausea.  
  
Sephiroth still fought incredibly well despite the fact that he only had one hand. He still couldn't land a blow to Cloud. Cloud was too angry to let that happen. Cloud deflected Sephiroth's swing and sliced a huge gash down the middle of Sephiroth. Sephiroth was now a bloody mess.  
  
Sephiroth silently lunged at Cloud. Sephiroth slipped and fell because of the newly formed sheet of ice that had appeared underneath him do to Yuffie's quick thinking. Sephiroth's sword slid to Cloud's feet.  
  
"How embarrassing," smiled Cloud, "Dying by the blade of your own sword." Sephiroth stood up. His face was twisted into a grimace of terror. Cloud smiled.  
  
"If you kill me now there will be no honor in defeating me." Sephiroth tried to reason.  
  
"I am not looking for honor in this battle. I am looking for the sight of your lifeless corpse at my feet. For then I can breathe easily and complete the mission that was assigned to Me." remarked Cloud.  
  
Cloud lunged. Sephiroth's sword penetrated Sephiroth's shoulder armor like a warm knife penetrates butter. Blood gushed everywhere. Cloud stabbed his sword into Sephiroth's foot. Sephiroth screamed in agony. Cloud removed both swords and stabbed them both deep into Sephiroth's stomach.  
  
The contents of Sephiroth's stomach spilled over clouds hands. Sephiroth was now coughing up blood. He slammed the hilt of Sephiroth's sword deep into the ground so now only the blade was showing. Cloud shoved his sword through Sephiroth's soft heart. With one final blow he shoved Sephiroth's bloody head into the blade of his own sword. Cloud liked the sound the sword made when it slammed through the back of Sephiroth's head.  
  
In a sudden rage Cloud started pummeling Sephiroth's dead body with his sword. Blood was splashing everywhere. Cloud felt an immense amount of pleasure in seeing the only obstacle in the way of his mission on Archemus being reduced to a bloody pile of torn flesh and fabric.  
  
Yuffie ran up to Cloud, who was now sobbing uncontrollably. Yuffie was crying too.  
  
"It'll be alright Cloud. We'll get Tifa back somehow. I promise." Yuffie said. She sounded almost confident. "The only thing we can do now is keep going. It's what Tifa would want us to do." Cloud nodded.  
  
It took Cid about an hour to get to where Cloud and the others were. By that time a huge swarm of flies had appeared over Sephiroth's bloody remains. Cloud was still crying when he entered the Highwind. Cid's happy expression was suddenly changed as he saw Cloud carrying the lifeless Tifa into the health room. Cid was about to say something but Yuffie shook his head at him. Cid shut his mouth almost instantly.  
  
So now Cloud is more persistent than ever, now with the loss of his dearest friend Tifa. Cloud will stop at nothing to find the four stones. But one question remains: Is Sephiroth really gone?  
  
Afterword- Man! The time flies when you write such exciting scenes! Please don't flame me for the death of Tifa. Anyways, thanks for reading, and hopefully reviewing. 


	5. The Massacre

Foreword- I decided that since now I will be using scene separators (~~~) to separate scenes I thought I should explain to you when the scene's separate. The two main places in this chapter are the Highwind and the Mountains. So when the scene changes from the Highwind to the Mountains the three ~~~ marks will appear before the next paragraph so that you won't get lost.  
  
Cloud and company were all overcome with grief over the loss of Tifa. Cloud now regretted fighting with Sephiroth. Yuffie was taking it hardest.  
  
"If...I.........HADn'T...ThROWN.........ThaT.........Last...Ninja...Star..., " screamed Yuffie repeatedly between sobs.  
  
"Yuffie... it isn't totally your fault. If I had told Tifa to run away then she wouldn't have died either," Cloud said, in a failed attempt to cheer Yuffie up, "It was as much as my fault as it was yours. You aren't the one to blame."  
  
Despite everyone's efforts to stop Yuffie's insane crying she kept on wailing. An alarm wailed viciously into their ears. "Uhhh Cloud. We've got a problem here. You may want to come check this out." said Cid's voice over an intercom. Cloud stood up and made his way to the bridge.  
  
"What is the matter Cid?" asked Cloud in an urgent tone. Cid pointed to the main window of the bridge. Cloud's eyes widened.  
  
A huge monster was waiting for them at the edge of the mountains. This monster seemed familiar to Cloud. He couldn't remember where it was from though.  
  
Cid put the Highwind of Hover mode. "So. What are we going to do about this?" Cid asked.  
  
"Well. I have a sort of risky plan. But we have to do it this way. I will have to ride Shiva past the monster and get to the stone. After I get the stone and return then we can blow the monster to bits without risking destroying the stone." Cloud replied after a moment of intense thinking. Cid was taken back by the complexity, yet simple ness, of Cloud's daring plan.  
  
"Well ok. I will distract the monster with the Highwind while you get the stone. Are you sure you can muster enough strength to summon Shiva twice, or even keep her out of the Materia for that long a time?" wondered Cid.  
  
"I'm hoping that it won't take that long. You better alert the others that you are about to start flying very strangely. They may need to get prepared for irregular patterns you will be flying in...especially Yuffie." Cloud told Cid. Cid nodded. Cloud stepped on the hull elevator and was raised to the balcony of the ship. Cloud stepped out of the balcony and pointed the Shiva Materia toward the sky.  
  
Shiva landed right in front of Cloud. Cloud explained what Shiva was going to do. She nodded. Cloud grabbed onto her shoulders and they took off toward the mountains...and the monster.  
  
~~~ Cid's voice pulsated over the powerful intercom system that had been installed on the Highwind. "You guys better get strapped to something because there is going to be some rough flying going on soon."  
  
Vincent looked at Yuffie. She had finally stopped crying. Vincent lifted her into a seat and buckled her in. He did the same for himself. Tifa's body was lying on the floor. The ninja star was still embedded into her skull.  
  
Shiva was right when she told Cid that she could fly pretty fast. Cloud could barely hang on. The monster hadn't noticed them...yet. Cloud was relieved that even though the flight was a very fast on, that it was smooth.  
  
~~~ The Highwind began transforming. It was changing into its stealth mode. This would help its maneuverability when it had to doge the monsters attacks.  
  
Vincent and Yuffie just sat there, waiting for the collisions to begin and their bodies to be rattled. Yuffie began to cry silently again. Vincent sat there with his eyes closed.  
  
The Highwind had completed transformation. Cid smiled and he charged the Highwind toward the beast. He fired one laser blast at the beast to get its attention.  
  
~~~ The blast hit the beast, though little damage was caused. The monster turned and glared at the metal object floating in front of it. The monster didn't like this hunk of metal. No, not one bit.  
  
Shiva was almost past the beast. Cloud cursed when he saw that Cid had fired at the monster. Now the monster was especially mad. What if the monster noticed Shiva? Cloud would be finished for sure. Shiva kept flying at her incredible speed.  
  
The monster picked up the first boulder it could find. He chucked it with all of his might at the floating metal thingy. The thingy dodged this rock easily. This made the monster madder than before. He kept throwing rocks at the flying antagonizer. The machine kept dodging and dodging and dodging. Finally, one rock hit, barely.  
  
~~~ The collision caused the docking bay door, the door that towered over Vincent, Yuffie, and Tifa's body, to open. The Highwind jerked upward, causing Tifa's body to slide over toward the open door. Vincent unlocked his restraining belt and lunged for Tifa's body, which had fallen out of the door.  
  
Vincent caught onto Tifa's flailing arm just in time. Yuffie was screaming in the background. Vincent tried to pull Tifa back into the Highwind when the second rock hit. The second rock, which was smaller and caused even less damage than the first one, did cause Vincent to lose his grip on Tifa's arm.  
  
Tifa's dead body fell slowly toward the ground. Vincent lunged out of the door after Tifa without thinking. Vincent caught up to Tifa's body somehow and grabbed onto it. He mustered all of his strength into transforming into Darkside, which was a hideous flying ogre that Vincent would transform into if he got mad enough.  
  
Vincent's efforts to transform didn't seem to be working. If he couldn't transform soon he would die. Vincent concentrated even harder than he had ever before. The ground was rushing up at him. He was hurtling toward the ground at an amazing speed. Vincent began to scream.  
  
Vincent began to glow. Slowly but surely he was transforming into Darkside. The ground was to close! He wouldn't transform in time! Vincent concentrated so hard that veins that he didn't know he had were popping up in his forehead. The tail emerged first. Followed by the darkening and changing of his skin.  
  
The ground was reaching up at Vincent. Vincent didn't realize that the ground was only about 100 feet below him. 75...50...25...too late. You lose.  
  
The last thing Vincent heard was the crunching and snapping of his bones, his eyeballs explode, and his heart and brain make a hideous sloshing sound as they ruptured. Vincent's body popped like a huge balloon filled with blood. Blood exploded from Vincent's body and showered everything that was within a 15 foot radius of where he landed. Vincent was now reduced to a pile of steaming, blood matted hair, flesh, and bones.  
  
Yuffie saw the whole thing. Yuffie was horrified. She screamed at the top of her lungs. She began to cry again. This time there was no way she could ever stop. She had just lost 2 of her best friends each within 3 hours of each other. She couldn't bare it anymore.  
  
~~~ Cloud and Shiva had passed the monster and were now looking for the Oracle's Shrine. Cloud knew what it looked like but had no idea where in the mountain range it was. All of the sudden a pain surged through Cloud's heart. Something had happened at the Highwind that he didn't like. What could it be? Cloud could only guess.  
  
"Shiva.... The faster we get there the better. I think it is more in that direction over there," said Cloud as he pointed toward and irregularly shaped mountain that was about a mile ahead of them. Shiva nodded and took off in that direction.  
  
~~~ Yuffie found the nearest intercom and yelled into it. "CID!...............VIN...Ce...NT...Is.....GONE!!!!!!!!!!!" Yuffie could hardly contain herself.  
  
"What did you say? Yuffie...CALM DOWN! Take some deep breathes. Now... What did you say happened to Vincent?" Cid asked Yuffie, his voice crackling on the intercom.  
  
"He died! He's gone! He jumped out the big door after Tifa and couldn't transform fast enough. He is gone. He's Gone! He's Gone! He's GONE! He exploded when he hit the ground. It was Disgusting....But worst of all HE's GOOOOOONNNNNEEEEEEE! I hate this mission! Why did Cloud make us come along? I hate him for making us! If he hadn't told us to come Tifa and Vincent would still be alive!"  
  
"YUFFIE! GET AHOLD OF YOURSELF! WE CAME ALONG BECAUSE WE WANTED TO HELP CLOUD! YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO COME! BUT YOU DID! ANYWAY, IF WE DIDN'T HELP HIM THEN THE WHOLE UNIVERSE WOULD HAVE BEEN DESTROYED BY UTTER AND TERRIBLE DARKNESS! I KNOW IT HURTS BUT YOU HAVE GOT TO GET OVER IT!" Cid yelled at Yuffie. This brought Yuffie back to reality. Yuffie shook her head and strapped herself into her seat. Tears were rolling down her face.  
  
Up in the bridge Cid had his own set of problems to deal with. The monster was throwing bigger and bigger each time. It was getting harder and harder to dodge the rocks. He even had to vaporize some so they wouldn't hit the Highwind. Cid was the greatest pilot of all time, but even this kind of intense maneuvering was a chore. Cid didn't know how much longer he could keep up this maneuvering. The controls couldn't handle this much strain much longer.  
  
~~~ Shiva was now flying very slowly. There were a lot of falling rocks in the area and Shiva didn't want to hit any. Cloud could no longer see the gigantic beast. This he thought was a good sign. Cloud heard something behind him. He turned just in time to see the arrow that was flying toward him and duck.  
  
The arrow flew by Shiva and Cloud. Cloud suddenly saw numerous bandits emerge from the mountain caves, armed with crossbows. The bandits aimed. Fleh.Shoo! Each one shot an arrow with precise accuracy. Shiva was full of holes. Bluish-purple blood was spilling all over Cloud. Cloud saw an arrow sticking out of Shiva's head. It had shot straight through her right eye and emerged from the left half of her skull. He yanked it out. It was covered with a slimy pink substance...Shiva's brains.  
  
The Materia in Cloud's pocket shattered.... causing Shiva to vanish. Cloud now started falling toward a huge pile of rocks. He picked up more and more speed until...  
  
~~~ The Highwind couldn't stay in the air much longer. Yuffie realized this and put on a pair of hover boots and leaped out the docking bay door. The boots kicked in right away and Yuffie took off toward the mountains where she could feel that Cloud was in trouble.  
  
The monster didn't notice Yuffie which was good because she wasn't even focused on anything except reaching Cloud. If the monster would have swung at her she would have been finished.  
  
Yuffie felt a great amount of heat behind her....followed by hearing a bone shattering explosion. She turned in horror to see that the Highwind was no longer in the sky. She had no idea of whether or not Cid was alive or not. She figured he would be since Cid new when to escape and when to fight.  
  
Yuffie turned back toward the mountains and shot off toward the direction that she knew Cloud was. Tears fell from her cheeks, but Yuffie's eyes were filled with determination. She wasn't going to lose Cloud. She promised herself this.  
  
~~~ Cloud awoke surrounded by the bandts who had killed Shiva. He was lying on a bed of leaves. He stood up. The bandits all drew out swords. Cloud grabbed the Oracle Sword just as the first bandit lunged.  
  
Cloud dodged this first attack easily. He swung at the bandit just as another lunged. Cloud could barely block each swing.  
  
Pretty soon all of the bandits were swinging at Cloud. Cloud managed to deflect all of the attacks. He also couldn't land any attacks on the bandits. Until one bandit didn't use his brain.  
  
Cloud grabbed this bandits arm and swung him in front of the nearest swinging sword. The bandit screamed just as his comrade severed him in half. Cloud smiled as the blood flowed over his feet. He threw the top half at another bandit who fell after it collided with him.  
  
Cloud quickly stabbed his sword into the Bandit behind him. The juices that filled his stomach and intestines spilled onto the ground with a splash. Cloud stabbed the guy's eyes out with two daggers that he carried with him. The bandit screamed in agony, one hand holding his open stomach, while the other grasped his face. Blood poured everywhere from his quickly dying body.  
  
After Cloud took out two of the bandits some more arrived. It was now thirteen to two. Cloud didn't mind these odds. The bandits didn't work as a team...this would be their downfall in the end.  
  
Cloud used the daggers that he used to stab the eyes out of the one bandit he threw both of them at 2 different bandits. Both collapsed to the ground grabbing their torn throats. Fresh blood entered the now growing pool. Cloud was enjoying this.  
  
Cloud leaped back onto a rock and took out a Fire Materia. Another bandit fell to the ground. This bandits only recognizable body parts were his hair and arm. The rest had been reduced to scorched flesh. The blood around the smoking corpse began to bubble as it grew hotter.  
  
Cloud reached into his belt and pulled out a small bladed whip. He wrapped this around a guy's neck, and pulled. The tightening blades slowly severed his throat while at the same time ripped his head right off of his shoulders.  
  
Cloud turned around and faced the last nine bandits. He whipped at the underarm of one of the slower bandits. The whip's blades took off the bandits arm with ease. Cloud didn't want the bandit to feel uneven so he did the guy a favor and took off his other arm as well, before sending the whip right through the guy's throat.  
  
Cloud picked up a sharp rock and flung at with all of his might at the strongest looking bandit. The other bandits flinched as they watched the rock cave in the bandit's forehead. Cloud rushed over and pulled out the rock viciously, revealing the bandit's punctured brains. A lot of the bandit's brains entered the blood pool that filled the small ravine.  
  
Cloud found another dagger this time using it to slice one of the bandits right down the middle. The body's two halves fell to the ground, becoming a major ingredient to the pool of death that was swiftly forming at the bandit's feet. The internal organs were still throbbing when they spilled out of the body and into the blood.  
  
There were now only 6 more bandits. Cloud grabbed one of the bandits by the neck. Cloud now had blades on his hands. He plunged his hands deep into the bandit's soft flesh and tore the heart right out of chest. He threw the body down. He squeezed the heart. It popped like a small water balloon filled with blood. The blood gushed over Cloud's face.  
  
Cloud found a long sharp stick. He jumped into the air. He lunged down on one unsuspecting bandit. The bandit screamed in terror just as the stick slammed into his mouth. The stick emerged out of the bandit's other end. Cloud took his sword and cut him in half after the bandit was good and bleeding.  
  
Cloud grabbed another bandit. He took the bandit's neck in his hands and flailed the bandit around sharply then quickly reversed direction. Cloud liked the sound of the bandit's neck snapping in two. He threw the bandit into a pile of sharp rocks, which quickly embedded the bandit's skin and added even more blood to the giant pool of red.  
  
Cloud remembered how he had killed Sephiroth and decided to do the same thing to one of these bandits. He stuck his sword into the ground and in one marvelous strike, slammed 2 of the bandit's heads into the blade of his sword. The two heads split in two instantly. The pool was getting thicker thanks to all of the brains that were being added to the recipe card.  
  
The last bandit tried to run but failed when his back erupted like a bloody volcano. Cloud was surprised to see that ninja stars were lying on the ground in front of the bandit, who was now more or less in three pieces. Yuffie suddenly appeared and launched about 30 stars into the already dead body of the bandit she had killed.  
  
Yuffie looked at Cloud after she had regained control and nodded. The two figures walked toward the shrine without saying a word.  
  
So now Cloud is even closer to his goal than ever before. But at the same time several miles away, Tifa's bodies eyes opened...  
  
Afterword- I hope this chapter was bloody enough for ya! I enjoyed writing it! Please Review! And, as always, thanks for reading! 


	6. Welcome to Bylandrias

Foreword- Ok... This chapter's main places are wherever Cloud and Yuffie are and wherever Tifa is. I will try to make this not as bloody as previous chapters but you must expect some!  
  
Cloud and Yuffie had been walking through the mountains now for about an hour. Yuffie had already explained everything to Cloud. Cloud was hurt at the loss of Vincent.  
  
"It will all get better after I find the four Stones." Cloud said reassuringly, "The Oracles wouldn't leave me unrewarded after completing such a daunting task. At least I would hope they wouldn't."  
  
Yuffie kept quiet for most of the trip. It had been hard for her to remember Vincent's vicious death. Cloud just kept walking along.  
  
"Uhhh...Cloud? What happens to us? You know...after you find the Stone? What if the darkness envelopes this planet without you here?" asked Yuffie, in a quiet voice.  
  
"Honestly, I don't know. I would assume that the darkness wouldn't overcome this planet after I got the stone. But I guess we will have to see about that after I find the Stone..." Cloud droned off. He felt something. He didn't like this feeling. It felt like....  
  
~~~ Tifa stood up. She was covered in the blood of another. Vincent.  
  
-Yes, Tifa, Come To ME! --- A voice told Tifa. Tifa closed her eyes for a second, when she opened them they glowed a deep red. Tifa smiled evilly and began to walk off. Toward Sephiroth's bloody remains.  
  
~~~ Cloud and Yuffie were now tied to a large rock, protruding over an edge of a cliff. Cloud opened his eyes first. The attack of these new bandits had been to well thought out for Cloud to have even imagined it would happen.  
  
The bandit leader walked up to the stone, "So. You are the one who killed 13 of our elite bandits on your own?" Cloud nodded.  
  
"Very well, you and your female companion have one chance to save yourselves. You must defeat me and the 10 of my sons. We are the strongest enemies that you could ever face. It's either you fight us or fall to your death. You decide." explained the leader with a snort of sarcasm.  
  
"We will have to wait for Yuf- I mean...her to wake up." said Cloud.  
  
"Very well. We will wait 30 minutes. If she is not awake by then you will both fall to your death." explained the leader. Cloud nodded. The leader went back to what seemed to be a tent and entered it.  
  
Cloud had a plan. But he would have to wait for most of the bandits to leave or face away from him to do it well. None of the troops moved for what seemed to Cloud like 15 minutes until...  
  
~~~ Tifa was walking in a strange way, like she was drunk. How could it be that she is alive. The voice in Tifa's head was growing louder and louder.  
  
---Yes! Come TO ME!-  
  
~~~ The time was now. Cloud activated his battle glove. Claws erupted from under the cloth of the glove. Cloud pulled a small knife out of the collar of top of his armor and tried to cut a small section of the ropes. Using the knife while it was in his mouth was a hard enough chore in itself but Cloud managed to cut enough of the rope so that he could break it.  
  
Cloud pressed his arms against the rope and pushed with all of his might. The ropes exploded silently. Cloud thrust his clawed hand at the rock. It connected and he had a hold of the rock. His other hand reached out subconsciously and grabbed Yuffie's arm. All of this occurred without the slightest amount of noise.  
  
Cloud shoved Yuffie up onto the rock. Then without hesitation he heaved himself onto the rock and started taking off toward the unexpecting bandits. Oh what a mistake it was to not keep an eye on the prisoner.  
  
Cloud through the knife he had used for cutting the rope at a bandit reading what looked like a newspaper. He collapsed with a sudden thud while still grasping his severed throat. The other bandits turned....just as Cloud had disappeared.  
  
Another bandit fell. He had been sliced down the middle...his internal organs spilled out of his body. Cloud appeared behind Yuffie on the edge of the stone. His sword was slightly stained with blood.  
  
Just as Cloud had suspected the bandit leader come out of his tent in an outrage. He drew his sword. Cloud went into a defensive stance. He expected the Leader to lunge at him. But instead he shoved his sword into the ground. He lifted both hands above the handle of the sword and started chanting an eerie chant.  
  
The tips of the leader's fingers started to glow and a ball of energy was starting to form above the sword's hilt. The ball was getting bigger and bigger each second. Cloud started lunging toward the leader in an attempt to stop him from finishing the ball. But just as Cloud left the edge of the rock the ball was complete.  
  
The leader grabbed the ball with his now completely growing hands and threw it at Cloud. Clouds quickly ducked, then turned just in time to see the ball hit the stone and shatter it into a million tiny pieces. Yuffie's unconscious body started falling toward the cliff bottom below...  
  
~~~ Tifa was now walking pretty normally. Her eyes weren't glowing red anymore. But the voice was still as loud as ever. - TIFA, YES, COME TO ME! I AM WAITING FOR YOU! --- screamed the voice.  
  
~~~ Yuffie started falling toward the ground below. Cloud's eyes widened. He then took off toward the edge of the cliff. He remembered what Yuffie had said about Vincent's death (100...75...50...25...to late. You lose.). He hesitated. Then after a moment's thought he lunged off the edge of the cliff.  
  
"The Oracles will not let anything happen to me. I am the Chosen One. Who else will they use if I die? I'm their only hope. They will keep me alive...or at least I hope so." Cloud thought nervously, as he fell toward the luminous ground below.  
  
Cloud had caught up to Yuffie. Right after he grabbed he hand. A cloaked figure, Archemidius, appeared.  
  
"Cloud, it's about time you spread your wings." Was what Archemidius said before he vanished.  
  
In just seconds after Archemidius' strange appearance two balls of energy shot by Cloud and started circling around again. The two balls slammed into Cloud's back, each at a different spot but an equal distance apart. Cloud felt a sudden pain in his back as two wings started to grow.  
  
Cloud noticed, as his wings were growing, that they were both different. One wing was an angel's wing composed of Black feathers while the other was a scaly devil's type wing, which was also black. Cloud wondered why they were different but decided that that didn't matter as long as they were going to save him and Yuffie from dying. Plus Cloud liked the fact that they were different.  
  
Cloud opened his now fully grown wings. He immediately felt the upward push of the air under his wings. It was exhilarating. He held Yuffie tightly as he tried to fly up to the cliff where the bandits were. Yuffie awoke. Her eyes were wide with surprise and fright.  
  
"CLOUD! What is happening here?! You have WINGS! HOW?!" yelled Yuffie. Cloud mouthed "SHHH" to Yuffie and she immediately got quiet.  
  
Cloud turned around and looked at the ground. Something caught his attention. It was a slit in the ground, just in front of a... tiny looking building of some kind. Could it be the Oracle's Shrine?! Cloud had to make sure. He dropped Yuffie and took off towards the ground.  
  
"AAAAAHHHHHH CLOUD WHAT ARE YOU THINKING!!!!" screamed Yuffie as she plummeted towards the ground.  
  
Cloud landed in front of what looked like to him to be the shrine. He could hear Yuffie's screams, but they were faint since she was so high in the air. He examined the slit in the ground and guessed it was for his sword. He went over to the shrine door, or what looked like a door. On the door there were two hands. They made a bowl. Cloud touched the hands and they retracted into the door. The door turned, much like a trap bookcase would and revealed a woman. She was wearing all pink.  
  
"Hello, I am Aeris. I am the Guardian of this Oracle Shrine. I have been expecting you for some time now. I will show you how to activate this Shrine and retrieve that which you seek." Aeris said in a calm voice.  
  
Cloud turned around and saw Yuffie still falling toward the ground. He told Aeris that she would have to wait one second. He took off toward Yuffie. He caught her and then brought her back to the shrine. Yuffie saw Aeris and stared at her, gaping.  
  
"You will need to put the Oracle's Sword here, "Aeris explained, pointing at the slit in the ground, "Then you must turn the sword counter- clockwise 180 degrees, and say, 'I, the Chosen One, wish for this Shrine to open up and present to me the treasure which I seek so dear'"  
  
Cloud took the awkward silence that followed as an indication that he should start doing what Aeris said. He put his sword into the slit as far as it would go, which was only about halfway up the blade. He turned it 180 degrees counter-clock wise like she said and said, "I, the Chosen One, wish for this Shrine to open up and present to me the treasure which I seek so dear." The effect was instantaneous.  
  
The sword began to glow and the hands reappeared at the door. A small ball of energy emerged from the sword and flew through the air and landed gracefully into the bowled hands on the door. The hands cupped around the ball and retracted once again into the door. This time, after the door turned, an indented hand print appeared on the door. Cloud went up to it and placed his hand into the indented one.  
  
The door disappeared and revealed a massively long staircase. Aeris walked up to Cloud.  
  
"This is as much as I can tell you. You will have to figure the rest out for yourself. You will find out more when you reach the stone at the top of the stairs." Aeris explained. Cloud nodded, gestured to Yuffie to follow him. Cloud turned and heard a noise behind him. His sword was starting to disappear.  
  
"There is no need to frown. Your sword will be at the top of the stairs as well. You need not worry about enemies. They cannot even see this Shrine. There is no need to fear. The only thing you must concentrate on right now is getting to the Stone," said Aeris reassuringly. Cloud nodded again and started to walk up the stairs. Yuffie wasn't far behind.  
  
The walk up the stairs was a rigorous one. Cloud had never been so tired when he reached the top. But instead of feeling fatigue, Cloud felt relief when he could finally stop at the top of the huge flight of stairs. He was even more relieved when he saw the Stone floating just over the hilt of his Sword on a pedestal, which his sword was drove into. The stone glowed an eerie yellowy-green glow.  
  
Cloud walked up to the pedestal but was pushed back by what felt like, to him, an invisible wall. Cloud pushed against this wall for several minutes before noticing the irregularly shaped indent in a stone floating mysteriously in midair. He examined this for a moment before realized that he needed to use his Oracle's Materia before he could open this mystic wall.  
  
He placed the Materia in the hole. The wall gave no signal indicating that it was gone. It just was. Cloud walked up to where he thought the wall began and pushed with all of his might... against nothing. Cloud fell flat on his face. Yuffie couldn't help but snicker a little bit.  
  
Cloud got up and walked over to the pedestal. He reached his hand into the eerie greenish mist that was emanating from the pedestal. Cloud's mind swirled with visions. He pulled his hand back instinctively. The visions stopped. Cloud needed to do something else but he couldn't figure out what.  
  
Yuffie finally got Cloud's attention after a few seconds of waving frantically. She was pointing to the medallion around his neck. Then she pointed to the stone indentation at the base of the pedestal. Cloud gave Yuffie a thumb's up sign. He inserted his medallion into the small hole. The mist disappeared.  
  
Cloud reached in and grabbed his sword from the pedestal. He took it out and held it toward the pedestal. He reached for the stone but it dissolved when his hand got near it. When he brought his hand away it reappeared again. He finally tried touching the stone with his sword. The Stone flashed and Cloud's sword flew into the air.  
  
Cloud's sword and the stone started swirling around each other in a strange sort of tornado of light. When the sword and the Stone finally touched a huge eruption of light lit the room. When Cloud could finally see he found that the stone was inserted into one of the holes in his sword. This answered Cloud's question about what the holes were for.  
  
Time had stopped again. The cloaked figure, Archemidius was standing on the pedestal.  
  
"Before you can activate the Stone you must go to a new planet. The stone will absorb the entire planet into itself. This will keep the darkness at bay in the planet's that are encased in the stones. The people will still live normally...they will just be considerably smaller than normal. They will not know of the change. And we have made a slight change in what will happen to your body. It will go with you but be in a spirit- like form. Do you understand me?" Cloud nodded.  
  
Archemidius vanished. Cloud took his pendant from the hole at the base of the pedestal and the eerie smoke started to pour out again. Then he took his Oracle's Materia out of the slot and the invisible wall appeared again. He looked at Yuffie. She looked worried.  
  
"I will have to leave you Yuffie. I must travel to Bylandrias to retrieve the stone there. I must stop the man named Seifer. I will see you again...I promise." Cloud said to Yuffie.  
  
Tears started to flow down her face. "Cloud? Can't I go with you? And what happened to your wonderful wings?" asked Yuffie. Cloud hadn't noticed that his wings had disappeared.  
  
"If you can find a way to come to Bylandrias with me I see no problem with it. I can only transport myself with this Materia." Explained Cloud as Yuffie ran over and hugged him.  
  
"Isn't there someway you can just stay here? Can't that Squall guy catch Seifer and get the stone?" wondered Yuffie.  
  
"I am the only one who can see the Shrines......... or at least that's what the Oracle's said." said Cloud. Yuffie kept hugging Cloud tighter and tighter.  
  
"Cloud you had better get on your way." said a voice from behind them. It was Aeris. "Yuffie, Cloud will be alright. And I don't mean to hurt you when I say this, but there is no other way to get to Bylandrias. At least not when Archemus gets absorbed into the Stone. I'm sorry."  
  
"I WILL FIND A WAY TO HELP CLOUD AND GET OFF OF THIS PLANET!" Yuffie screamed at Aeris as she stormed out of the room in a rage.  
  
Cloud started to go after Yuffie but Aeris stopped him. "Cloud, you know what you have to do. She will be alright. She seems determined to help you. A little determination goes a long way. You may be surprised with her. Anyway, she will be alright until you return. Good luck." With this final message Aeris left the room and the door closed shut behind her. Cloud was trapped in the room.  
  
Cloud took out his Oracle's Materia and held it high into the air. "I, The Chosen One, wish to travel to Bylandrias!!!" Cloud yelled. His sword flung out of his hand and floated in front of him. The Materia also shot out of his hand and started swirling around the Sword just like the Stone had. But Cloud started feeling woozy. All of the sudden Cloud burst into a cloud of dust and swirled around the sword as well.  
  
There was one final flash before Cloud awoke...  
  
  
  
"Instructor Squall! I can't figure out how to load this Gunblade right. I've tried and I've tried but the bullets won't seem to fit," explained a small blonde haired girl to Cloud. Cloud knew nothing about Gunblades. He would blow his cover right off if he couldn't fix this girl's problem.  
  
"Well...uhhh... you've just got to try a little harder." said Cloud to the girl.  
  
"I HAVE tried hard. I just can't get it," said the girl.  
  
"Well, are you using the right size bullets for your Gunblade?" asked Cloud, figuring this was the girl's problem.  
  
"Uhhh...Instructor Squall... they only have one size bullet. All Gunblades are made to fit the only size bullet out there." remarked the girl while cocking her eyebrow. Cloud had blown his cover.  
  
"Uhhh......... well it's good that you knew that because I was testing you. You pass!" suddenly Cloud felt very dumb, "Wait! Does anyone else here know how to load their Gunblade? And if you do then would you like to come up and demonstrate it for us? If you come up here and show us I'll give you extra points toward your score." His plan worked. Immediately, 7 hands shot into the air in response.  
  
"Uhhh... why don't you show us?" he said pointing to a boy wearing a black shirt composed of mostly belts. The boy came up to the front and demonstrated how to load the Gunblade. After he was finished Cloud walked back to the little girl and asked if that had answered he question. It had. Cloud was glad that he didn't have to demonstrate anything because the students would have become suspicious if he had had to.  
  
All of the sudden a bell rang and all of the kids packed up their Gunblades and notebook and left. Cloud was relieved that the class was over. The something dawned on Cloud. What if he had another class to teach? How would he do it? He hoped it was something like Sword Warfare. He could teach that.  
  
"Squall! We have our break now! We can take that walk you promised me earlier!" said a familiar voice behind Cloud. Cloud turned and saw that it was Rinoa. He was glad to see her. He could tell her all about what he had to do! He ran up to Rinoa.  
  
"Listen! I've got to talk to you! It's about something important." said Cloud to Rinoa.  
  
"Well we can talk about it during our break," Rinoa said with a cheerful smile. She grabbed Cloud's hand and began to walk. Cloud followed.  
  
"Now what was so important?" asked Rinoa. Cloud started to sweat.  
  
"Well Rinoa. I'm not Squall anymore. I am Cloud...you know like before. I am here to retrieve the Oracle's Stone of this planet. The Oracle's have chosen Squall's body for me to occupy. I need to get working right away. Is there any possible way I can get started right away?" explained Cloud in exasperation.  
  
Rinoa's eyes went wide. "Really? You're Cloud again. Weird. We better go see headmaster Cid about this."  
  
"Who? Cid? He's here? I better go see him right away! Take me to him! It's urgent!" Cloud said hurriedly. He wanted to meet up with Cid again. Cid would help him on his journey.  
  
"Ok...it's right this way." Rinoa had let go of Cloud's hand and took off, gesturing him to follow her. Cloud ran after her.  
  
"Ok this is the elevator. Headmaster Cid is on the third floor." explained Rinoa.  
  
"Aren't you going to come up with me?" asked Cloud.  
  
"Would you like me to?" wondered Rinoa.  
  
"Well, as of right now, no one knows that Squall is someone else. Wouldn't it look suspicious if you ran all the way here with me and then left all of the sudden? You wouldn't do that around Squall would you. I need to draw as little attention to myself as possible...until the time is right for people to know about It." explained Cloud. Rinoa nodded, she seemed to have taken the point and grabbed onto his hand. They entered the elevator together, hand in hand.  
  
So Cloud's journey on Bylandrias is about to begin. He was on his way to see headmaster Cid. Meanwhile......... back one Archemus, which was now the size of a grain of sand, Tifa had reached her destination...  
  
Afterword- MAN! This is the longest chapter so far! Oh and from now on, until Cloud leaves Bylandrias, think of Cloud as being Squall, as Cloud has taken over Squall's mind. So now Cloud=Squall. Just thought I should say it here that way if I forget to say it in the foreword of my next chapter then you would still know. Thanks for reading and also, hopefully, reviewing! 


	7. Soul Fusion

Foreword- Ok. Here comes the confusing part. When people say Squall, just picture them saying Cloud. Hope This Helps! On With the Fic!  
  
Cloud and Rinoa entered the elevator. Rinoa pushed a button and the elevator rose. Cloud was caught off balance as the elevator jerked to a stop several seconds later. Cloud got up, feeling a little embarrassed. The doors opened without warning and Xu, one of Squall's close friends, walked in the elevator.  
  
"Why, hello Squall. What brings you to the third floor?" asked Xu politely. Cloud didn't know her name. He was worried. He gave Rinoa an urgent glance. Rinoa got the message.  
  
"Oh! Hello Xu! Well Squall and I were just coming up here to see Headmaster Cid about something important." responded Rinoa, a little too calmly. Xu looked suspiciously at Rinoa.  
  
"What's so important?" wondered Xu, smiling politely. Rinoa didn't have any idea what to say.  
  
"Well I was just going to ask about my teaching schedule. I was going to ask if I could possibly teach my Gunblade Mechanics class at a different time." explained Cloud. Rinoa looked at him in relief.  
  
Xu seemed to accept this answer and only nodded a little then said goodbye and went down the elevator.  
  
"Nice save Squa.. Cloud." said Rinoa winking at him playfully.  
  
"It's alright. My real name may be Cloud, but on this planet I am Squall. You may call me Squall...if you find it to be more natural to you. Whatever you decide to call me, Squall or Cloud is up to you. I will make sure to respond to both." explained Cloud in a serious tone. Rinoa nodded.  
  
"It would be better if I called you Cloud. Not to be rude, but just because you are in Squall's body does not give you the right to take his name and use it for your own. The Headmaster and the unit of SeeD's he decides to send along with us will have to know that you are not Squall, but that you are Cloud. They may not believe you but you must tell them the truth." Rinoa told Cloud with a stern look in her eye. Cloud nodded at the seriousness of the comment but realized that she was right.  
  
The door to Headmaster Cid's office opened. Rinoa grasped Cloud's hand and they walked in together. There was a huge chair facing out a window hiding the headmaster from view.  
  
"Oh! Cid! I am so glad that you are alive! After what Yuffie told me about what happened to the Highwind I was sure you were dead. But now you can help me again on my journey!" Cloud blurted out without thinking. Rinoa glared at him.  
  
The chair swiveled to reveal a mildly aged man in his 50's. Cloud looked at him suspiciously. Headmaster Cid just laughed.  
  
"I don't have any idea what you are talking about Squall...but I have time if you would like to inform me about the accident you just mentioned that I was involved in." said the Headmaster with a twinkle in his eye. Rinoa sighed. The Headmaster's office doors closed behind Rinoa and Cloud with a sudden thud.  
  
"Now what were you saying about this so-called accident?" wondered Headmaster Cid.  
  
"This may seem kind of farfetched to you Headmaster," started Cloud, "But I am not Squall."  
  
"Oh, is that so. Well then who are you? And why are an exact replica of Squall," Headmaster Cid said jokingly.  
  
"Headmaster! This is not a laughing matter!" said Rinoa very harshly. The smile on Headmaster Cid's face vanished. He was now looking alarmed.  
  
"Continue please," invited Headmaster Cid as he rested his hands on his desk.  
  
"I am not Squall. I am Cloud, Cloud Strife. I am from the planet Archemus. I have been chosen by the Oracles of each of the four planets in this small solar system. I must go to each planet and retrieve the Oracle's Stone on each of them. After I retrieve the stone the four Oracles will fuse all four of our planets into one planet. This will give them an edge in the fight against the darkness that encompasses each of the planets. Someone named Seifer has already begun searching for the stone on this planet. I must find the stone before he does. If I don't the universe will be over come by darkness and all life...or at least all life how we see it will cease. Joy, Happiness, Love, and all of the other emotions will die out. We will all live with evil in our hearts. I cannot let this happen. But...I cannot do it on my own. I will need help." Cloud explained. Headmaster Cid just sat there for a second, apparently letting it all sink in. Rinoa blushed. Cloud felt kinda woozy.  
  
"Very well. I will give you three SeeD's, counting her." Headmaster Cid told Cloud, "Although it may not seem like a lot they are the elite fighting unit of this Garden. You won't need that many."  
  
"Who would you recommend accompany you Rinoa?" Headmaster Cid asked her. Rinoa looked startled.  
  
"I have to choose?" Cid nodded. "Ok, I choose Irvine.........and...err... Selphie."  
  
"Very well," Cid leaned over his desk and pushed a little blue button. There was a small beeping noise before Headmaster Cid's voice boomed over the entire Garden.  
  
"Would Selphie Tilmitt and Irvine Kinneas please report to my office immediately? Thank You," said Headmaster Cid into a small microphone. He pushed the blue button again and the beeping noise came on again, thus signaling the end of the recruitment.  
  
"I hope these people are seasoned fighters," said Cloud to Rinoa.  
  
"Well, Irvine uses a gun. And Selphie is a master with nunchaku, which are very deadly. They will be of great help to us." Rinoa told Cloud, who had a skeptical look on his face.  
  
"What? They are good! I wouldn't choose losers. Not when the fate of the universe rests on our shoulders." said Rinoa. She smiled a little.  
  
The door behind Cloud opened revealing a man in a tan trench coat with a gun resting on his shoulder and a skinny girl wearing a yellow skirt with two bladed sticks attached to a holster on her back. Cloud cocked his eyebrow at Rinoa.  
  
"What? They're the best we have! I promise they won't let us down." Rinoa said reassuringly. Cloud was not impressed.  
  
"I guess beggars cannot be choosers." remarked Cloud as he began to fill the new comers in...  
  
~~~ Tifa had reached Sephiroth's remains. She reached down and grabbed Sephiroth's long sword. She pointed it to the sky and began to chant. The chunks of flesh that used to be Sephiroth started to glow.  
  
After several minutes of chanting a ghostly image of Sephiroth appeared over the pile of blood and guts. He smiled at Tifa and nodded. She had done her job.  
  
Tifa opened her mouth as wide as possible. Sephiroth's spirit lunged down Tifa's throat and she began to glow.  
  
The glowing stopped revealing a brand new Tifa. She had flowing silvery hair. Her old clothes were replaced with the black robes once adorned by Sephiroth. Her eyes, once caring and lovable, were now dark and emotionless. She smiled and evil smile.  
  
"Sephiroth is back in business," said Sephiroth, in a voice that was half his and half Tifa's. He swung his sword around and saw that his new body worked just fine, for being brand new.  
  
"Now to deal with that meddling ninja girl and her friends," said Sephiroth as he began to walk towards the horizon.  
  
~~~ "You're kidding right!? How is this possible?" wondered Selphie as she started pacing back and forth. Irvine was leaning against the wall, wearing his hat so that it covered his eyes.  
  
"It just is Selphie," explained Cloud, "The Oracles can do extraordinary things. They could destroy the universe without even lifting a finger."  
  
"Well then why can't they destroy the darkness?" wondered Irvine, "They seem to be capable of almost anything."  
  
"Darkness would still live on even if they destroyed the Universe. It is just too strong, the Oracles can't handle it. This is why they need the stones. So they can fuse the four planets and all of the great fighters on each planet can help in the battle to stop the darkness." said Cloud.  
  
"Well, if the Oracles can't destroy the darkness then how are we supposed to be able to? And why can't they retrieve the Stones themselves?" wondered Selphie.  
  
"I don't know. I guess the Oracles aren't allowed to interfere with our lives substantially. That is what Archemidius told me. If they have someone do what they aren't allowed to do, then I guess they are allowed to interfere then, just as long as they didn't do most of the work for the person. My finding the Stones for them would allow them to interfere enough to fuse the planets. And anyway, if the Oracles destroyed the darkness that would be a great interference, wouldn't it? So they need us to do most of the fighting for them before they are allowed to interfere and fight with us." explained Cloud, drawing from the deepest pool of his intelligence.  
  
"That would make sense," responded Cid, who was awestruck by the ingenious thought behind what Cloud had just said. "It's decided then. Rinoa, Irvine, Selphie. You all will help Cloud on his quest. You must help him in his fight to eliminate the darkness in our hearts. This is an order."  
  
Rinoa, Irvine, and Selphie nodded.  
  
"Thank you Headmaster," said Cloud.  
  
"You three go to the garage. You may take any car you choose. I will escort Cloud there after I very brief talk with him." Cid said gesturing toward Irvine, Selphie, and Rinoa. All three nodded, and then walked out of the office, closing the door behind them.  
  
"Cloud, do you hear small voices inside your head?" asked Cid. Cloud wondered if he was talking about schizophrenia. He shook his head no.  
  
"Are you sure? Search deep into the subconscious of Squall's mind."  
  
Cloud closed his eyes and concentrated with all of his might on entering Squall's mind. He broke through the barrier that separated Cloud from Squall and was bombarded with Squall's sad and twisted past.  
  
Cloud saw visions of all sorts of monsters. He saw the war against the Galbadian army. He saw the Ragnarok, which was in Esthar. He saw Zell, Quistis, Selphie, Laguna, Kiros, Ward, Fujin, Raijin, Xu, and...Seifer. Seifer was Squall's forever partner in the dance of ultimate rivalry. Cloud saw the bitter fights these two had. Cloud was worried about meeting and quite possibly, fighting such a ruthless man.  
  
"Release Me! I can help you!" called a voice deep within Squall's subconscious. Cloud's eyes shot opened, the visions disappeared.  
  
"There was a voice. It screamed for me to release it. It sounded like a girl." explained Cloud after a few seconds. Cid nodded.  
  
"That was Shiva. I have kept track on Squall's GF junction history. Shiva is the only person left that Squall could have junctioned to him. Call her." said Cid, who sounded amused.  
  
"How?"  
  
"Search deep inside Squall. You will find the answers you seek."  
  
Cloud once again closed his eyes. He searched Squall's mind for any information on Shiva.  
  
Shiva: Level One GF. She is easy to control. Spirit of Ice. She uses the attack Diamond Dust most frequently. Appears when her attack is mentioned.  
  
All of this information came from a special paper Squall had written at the last minute on GF's. Cloud had found this by searching very deep into Squall's mind. Cloud opened his eyes again. He nodded to Cid.  
  
"Diamond Dust!" Cloud yelled. Two balls of energy surged around Cloud's body and slammed into the ground in front of him, leaving a small circle of ice on the floor. A huge dagger of ice smashed through the small ice barrier on the floor. There was a beautiful woman encased in the ice. Her eyes opened. She spread her arms and her small ice prison shattered.  
  
Shiva stood there looking around suspiciously. Cloud was amazed at the resemblance between his Shiva and Squall's Shiva.  
  
"Where are the enemies you wish me to destroy?" asked Shiva in an airy, icy voice.  
  
"There aren't any. Squall here was testing practicing his GF summoning abilities." explained Cid. Shiva looked at Cloud.  
  
"May I be dismissed now?" asked Shiva. Cid nodded. Shiva waved at Squall then shattered into a million tiny shards of ice. Each of the shards disappeared before they could hit the floor.  
  
"I have a gift for you Cloud. I will give you the GF Tonberry. His attack is called Chef's Knife. He will be a great help to you." explained Cid as he touched his forehead. When Cid removed his fingers there was a small ball of energy resting on them.  
  
Cid beckoned Cloud to come nearer. Cloud stepped forward several steps. Cid pressed his fingers on Squall's forehead, thus giving Cloud the ability to summon Tonberry.  
  
"Thank you headmaster, I appreciate all of your help." said Cloud, "And there is no need for you to escort me to the garage. I know where it is now that I've searched Squall's mind." Cid nodded and sat back down in his desk.  
  
Cloud left the office and went down the elevator. He started to walk towards the garage...  
  
~~~ Yuffie landed in front of Vincent's remains. She wanted to bid him her final respects. She started to cry. As her tears hit the remains of Vincent they started to glow. Yuffie didn't notice this. She was to busy crying.  
  
There was a sudden flash. And just like how it had happened with Sephiroth, Vincent's spirit appeared above his dead remains. Yuffie looked up and screamed. As Yuffie's mouth was at its widest, Vincent's spirit smiled. The spirit of Vincent flew into Yuffie's mouth and she started to glow...  
  
Afterword- I hope this chapter wasn't as boring as I think it might be! Oh, and if you have any suggestions or comments please email me at Finalballz@yahoo.com . I will take your comments seriously so please, don't joke! Anyway, thanks for reading! And as always please Review! 


	8. Yuffie's Return

Foreword- There really isn't much to say here. The only place that this chapter takes place in is on Bylandrias with Cloud and company.  
  
Cloud had arrived at the garage. He walked up to a blue, war type car that Rinoa was standing by.  
  
"I don't know how to drive so you guys will have to." explained Cloud, with a touch of embarrassment.  
  
"That's ok. We kinda planned for that. Irvine is an excellent driver. He'll take the wheel." said Rinoa with a smile. Cloud liked it when Rinoa smiled. Her smile seemed to make the mood a little warmer. Cloud got in the back and sat next to Selphie.  
  
"So, you have a weapon with you?" asked Selphie. Cloud had forgotten all about his sword. He reached out his hand. His sword appeared with a flash of blinding bluish-green light. Selphie's eyes were wide.  
  
"How did you do that!?" asked Selphie in amazement.  
  
"The Oracle's gave me this sword. I didn't actually think that it would work. I just figured that it would stay with Me." explained Cloud, who also seemed to be amazed by the sword's sudden appearance.  
  
"Ok back there, we're about to leave so fasten your seatbelts." said Irvine over the car's primitive intercom system.  
  
Cloud watched Selphie attach her seatbelt. Cloud did the same, although it took him a while. He had never ridden in a car like this before. Selphie pulled out a magazine. Cloud put his head back and almost instantaneously sleep overcame him.  
  
Cloud's dream was a very strange one. He saw all sorts of images. Yuffie, Vincent, Tifa, Cid, Rinoa, Sephiroth, Seifer, Aeris, Selphie, and Irvine all danced around in his head. He relived the horrible death of Tifa again. He could still hear the unbearable clunk that he heard after Tifa's lifeless body slammed into the ground. It was now an eerie scream. It overcame every aspect of his dream until.........  
  
Irvine smashed on the breaks. Cloud was lurched violently. He awoke with a scream.  
  
"Everyone out...NOW!" screamed Irvine over the intercom. Cloud unbuckled himself quickly. Selphie was already out of the car when Cloud got unbuckled. Cloud ran out of the door.  
  
Selphie, Irvine, and Rinoa had already drawn their weapons. Cloud couldn't see what had caused Irvine to stop until he emerged from the side of the car. There was a small beam of light erupting from the sky into the ground. The Oracle's Stone encrusted in Cloud's sword was giving off the same eerie glow as it had when he found it in the shrine.  
  
There was huge surge in the beam of energy. And the ground erupted where the beam was blasting at. After the eruption the beam stopped. There was a huge flash of light. Cloud could make out a figure of a person. It was a woman.  
  
The light died down and Cloud could hardly believe his eyes. Standing there as if nothing had ever happened was Tifa.  
  
(Author's Note: Sephiroth is in control of Tifa's body. Although this is the case, everything that Sephiroth says will be followed by something like TIFA says, not SEPHIROTH says. I hope this helps some of the confusion that this could have caused)  
  
"TIFA! What are you doing here?!" thought Cloud to himself. He didn't want to give away the fact that he was Cloud since this could be a trick. "Since when have you had Silver hair? And why are you wearing Sephiroth's clothes?!"  
  
Tifa just smirked. "I have come for the Stone Cloud." Cloud was appalled. He heard Sephiroth's voice!  
  
"That is right Cloud... It's me Sephiroth. I have taken Tifa's body. I will have my revenge now." said Tifa as she drew Sephiroth's sword from a sheath on her back.  
  
Cloud stepped forward. "You guys! Step back! He is much more dangerous than you think! I will handle this!" Irvine, Selphie, and Rinoa walked back towards the car. Cloud drew the Oracle's Sword.  
  
Tifa lunged. Cloud lunged. They both disappeared. Selphie and the others watched in horror as randomly, the ground, statues, trees, and other such things were blown to bits by the invisible force of Cloud and Tifa's forceful battle.  
  
The noise of the invisible battle taking place in front of Selphie was excruciating. The noise was getting louder. Rinoa had a feeling. She grabbed Selphie's and Irvine's hands and ran, dragging them with all of her might.  
  
The ground erupted all around Rinoa as she pulled Irvine and Selphie away from the car. She was running towards a small gap in the ground. She jumped down pulling Irvine and Selphie with her. She was just in time. They all heard the noise of metal cutting through metal. This noise was followed by an explosion. They had destroyed the car. Fire erupted over the tops of Rinoa, Selphie, and Irvine's heads.  
  
When the dust died down Rinoa looked up. She saw, to her fright (and amazement) Cloud and Tifa, standing there, like nothing had even happened.  
  
"Even though you are in Tifa's body Sephiroth doesn't mean I won't kill you." said Cloud in a voice full of hatred.  
  
"You would sacrifice your only chance to be with Tifa again? You are a fool." Tifa told Cloud with a hateful smirk.  
  
"Tifa was gone ever since you killed her Sephiroth. There was no way to bring her back. Just because your spirit lived on after I destroyed your body doesn't mean that Tifa's didn't. Weaker souls will die when the body that they inhabit dies. Her soul died. Somehow she was possessed and you just transferred your soul to occupy her body. If your soul left her body then Tifa would be nothing more than a mindless zombie. And anyway, a soul can only live through a habitatial death once. If I kill you here and now your soul will also die. You are making a grave mistake Sephiroth, fighting me here. I have a better reason to kill you now. Prepare yourself. The end awaits you." said Cloud in a voice that was almost too calm, considering the mood. He smiled at Tifa, who also returned the smile. They lunged again.  
  
They fought in a slower fashion than before. You could actually see their fighting. Cloud easily connected with Tifa's stunningly fast blows. They managed to keep blocking each other's blows for about ten minutes. Tifa started to sweat after a few minutes of fighting. All of this swinging was taking a toll on Tifa's body. Tifa's body didn't have as much endurance as Sephiroth's old body did. Sephiroth wouldn't even have developed a sweat until maybe an hour and a half into this fighting. Tifa was developing one at around ten minutes. This body that Sephiroth had chosen, that seemed like the perfect choice at the time was now slowly but surely getting more and more useless.  
  
Cloud snickered. Tifa looked furious. Before Tifa could lunge an eruption of blue light blinded everyone temporarily. Cloud looked towards the source of the light. There was the same beam that had transported Tifa to Bylandrias. The only difference was that the stone on Cloud's sword was going berserk. It was vibrating and light erupted from it like crazy.  
  
Tifa thought that this would be the best time to strike since Cloud was distracted. She tried this. Cloud spun around and blocked the blow. The irregular angle at which the swords had connected was putting a marvelous amount of strain on Sephiroth's sword. Cloud pushed harder and snapped Sephiroth's sword in two.  
  
Before Cloud could deliver the final blow a demon appeared right in front of him. Cloud stepped back... this demon looked very familiar. The demon grabbed Tifa's throat with both hands.  
  
"Sephiroth... You die here and now! I will not allow you to wander these planets anymore. The despair you cause people is overwhelming. It must stop. I am going to be the one to make sure that it happens. Say goodbye!" screamed the demon before he twisted his two hands different direction violently, snapping Tifa's neck, instantly killing her. He threw the corpse of Tifa down on the ground several feet away from Cloud.  
  
The demon began to glow. After the blinding light subsided Cloud could make out a person. The man he saw in front of him had Black hair, a red bandana, red robes, and a claw on his arm. Could it be?! Vincent!?  
  
"Vincent! It can't be you!" Cloud screamed. Vincent turned revealing his face... but it wasn't Vincent's face at all. It was Yuffie's. "Yuffie?!"  
  
"Yes, Cloud. It is me. I told you that I would find a way to come and help you." said Yuffie cheerfully in a voice that was half hers and half Vincent's. "Vincent's soul and my soul underwent a Soul Fusion. Our souls combined into one. I now can use Vincent's abilities. I used Darkside just then. You may have already noticed. I also got Vincent's clothes. I think I look pretty cool. Don't you?"  
  
"Yeah! I'm just surprised you even got here! How did you anyway?" asked Cloud.  
  
"With this," said Yuffie as she held up what looked like a Materia, "The part of Vincent's soul that occupied Vincent's memory, which isn't used in Soul Fusion, transformed into this. Now I can help you throughout your whole journey! Isn't that awesome?"  
  
Cloud nodded. He gestured for Irvine and the others to come. They came over.  
  
"Irvine Selphie, Rinoa I'd like you to meet one of my good good friends Yuffie. She is going to join us on our quest. She will be a great asset."  
  
"Nice to meet ya'!" exclaimed Yuffie, smiling. "Oh! Don't mind my voice. It changed to this after I fused my soul with another. Don't worry about it." She could tell they were kind of nervous about her half Vincent voice.  
  
"Well we better get going. Seifer isn't going to wait for us to sort through these introductions." Cloud pointed out. The others nodded.  
  
"We should use Bahamut now that our car has been destroyed." said Irvine thoughtfully. Selphie seemed excited about it, Rinoa looked a little nervous. Cloud didn't exactly what a Bahamut was so he had mixed feelings.  
  
"What's a Baha..." Cloud was cut off before he could finish his question.  
  
"MEGA-FLARE!" yelled Irvine. The same two shining orbs that had swirled around Cloud had reappeared, this time surging around Irvine. They shot into the air after they had finished there spinning. After a few seconds a huge shadow covered the clouds. It was in the shape of a huge dragon.  
  
The clouds parted and, just as Cloud had predicted, a huge black dragon swooped over their heads and landed about fifty feet ahead of them. He turned.  
  
"Where are the foes you wish to me to vanquish for you?" asked Bahamut in a booming voice.  
  
"We need you to take us to Esthar Bahamut." explained Irvine. Bahamut nodded and bent down. Selphie, Rinoa, and Irvine climbed on Bahamut's back. Cloud started to get on but realized there wouldn't be enough for him and Yuffie both to get on.  
  
"Hey Yuffie, can you transform into Darkside again?" asked Cloud.  
  
"I don't think so. I used a lot of energy transforming into it in the first place. I even practiced before I traveled here." explained Yuffie, she was already sounding drowsy. Cloud had an idea.  
  
He had flown before, using the wing of an angel and a wing of a devil. He concentrated on these wings with all of his might. Veins on his forehead were starting to pop up. He concentrated for what seemed like forever to him. Two words appeared in his head.  
  
Oracle's Wings  
  
Cloud opened his eyes. The wings hadn't grown.  
  
"I can't believe this. The wings from that stinking Oracle don't work here. I can't even believe that I only got to use those Oracle's Wings once! That was a ji..." Cloud couldn't finish. There was a pain in his back. A familiar pain. The pain that occurred on Archemus.  
  
Cloud...it's time for you to spread your wings  
  
He unfolded the wings. They were just like before. Rinoa and the others were all breath taken by the sight of their friend Squall, with wings on his back.  
  
"How in the wor..." Selphie began, but Cloud cut her off by holding his hand up.  
  
"Like I said before... Seifer won't wait on us. I'll explain later when we have time. You guys can ride Bahamut and I'll carry Yuffie. We need to catch up on some things." Cloud told the others. They nodded.  
  
Cloud walked over toYuffie and lifted her up. She put her arms around his neck and then he took off. Bahamut was quick to follow.  
  
Bahamut easily pulled ahead of Cloud, who was still just getting used to his wings. Although Bahamut was ahead of him he could still manage to keep up.  
  
"So Yuffie, how did you get back to Vincent so quickly after I left Archemus?" wondered Cloud. Yuffie smiled.  
  
"With those hover boots, remember. I was wearing them when we got captured by the bandit leader." Cloud remembered now.  
  
Yuffie yawned loudly.  
  
"You should rest Yuffie. I'm guessing this is going to be a long trip to Esthar. Otherwise they wouldn't need to ride such a huge dragon. Sleep until you can transform into Darkside again. By then I'll need to rest. You won't have to carry me though, I'll ride on Bahamut." Yuffie nodded again in the middle of another loud and long yawn. She placed her head against Cloud's chest and almost immediately fell asleep.  
  
After about an hour of flying Cloud was beginning to slow down. Yuffie still hadn't woken up. The others were to far ahead for him to call to them...or even get their attention for that matter. He had to let her down or he wouldn't be able to go on any farther.  
  
He thought hard about what he should do. He didn't know if Shiva or Tonberry could fly. He decided to try Shiva.  
  
"Diamond Dust!" Cloud yelled. The two spheres swirled around him like they had before. This time Cloud directed them to collide about 50 feet in front of him. They did and left a vertical circle of Ice in the air. Just like before the pillar of Ice erupted from the circle. Shiva opened her eyes and shattered the pillar. She fell.  
  
Cloud searched frantically through Squall's brain for an answer. He found it. He pointed his fingers at Shiva and yelled "FLOAT!" a beam of energy shot from the tip of Squall's fingers and connected with Shiva, who immediately stopped falling. She flew up to Cloud.  
  
"Why did you do that?! You know I can't fly! What are you an imbecile?!" screamed Shiva.  
  
Cloud blushed. "I'm sorry Shiva. I forgot that's all. I won't forget again. I promise."  
  
"You better promise. Anyway, what did you need me for?" wondered Shiva.  
  
"I need you to carry her for me. Carry her and follow Bahamut until she wakes up and then transforms. Then after she does that you can go." explained Cloud. Shiva nodded. She took Yuffie into her arms and shot forward. Cloud was relieved that Shiva was so understanding.  
  
He flew a lot faster than before, now that he didn't have to carry the weight of two people. He finally landed on Bahamut's back, got himself situated and fell asleep.  
  
After a few hours of sleeping, Cloud awoke.  
  
"Cloud, I'm glad to see that you're awake. We will be arriving at Esthar shortly." Irvine explained.  
  
Cloud was relieved. He didn't like the wind blowing through his hair for so long. He was glad that they would be landing soon. Although little did he know, the citizens of Esthar were expecting them. And they weren't going to be throwing a welcome party.  
  
Afterword- Like I said before. Email me any questions and comments that you may have. Please review. I would appreciate it a lot. Thanks for reading! 


	9. Esthar's Endless Swarm

Foreword- There are still no (~~~) different scenes in this chapter. Oh I almost forgot. I forgot to add that Darkside is Yuffie's Variation of Vincent's Chaos transformation. I hope this settles any confusion that my leaving that out may have caused!  
  
Cloud was amazed at the size of Esthar. It was huge! It looked like a marvelous place to live.  
  
"The colors are beautiful aren't they?" asked Rinoa. Cloud nodded. He noticed that Shiva was gone. He hoped that the Float spell lasted long enough for Yuffie to wake up and transform. He looked behind Bahamut and saw that Yuffie was following them in the form of Darkside.  
  
"It will only be a couple of minutes before we land." Irvine told everyone. Cloud was glad. He didn't like riding this big dragon very much; it made him a little nervous.  
  
Cloud turned around to yell for Yuffie to come closer when a huge fluorescent ball of energy smashed into her. Yuffie's transformed, unconscious body was hurtling toward the heart of the city. Cloud jumped after her.  
  
The wings grew instantly. Even more blasts were erupting from the city. These new blasts were mostly being aimed at Bahamut. He did a good job of dodging them and keeping Irvine and the others on at the same time.  
  
Cloud sped up to Yuffie. He finally was able to grab her tail. Darkside was a lot heavier than he expected. He opened spread his wings and the updraft sent him shooting upward.  
  
Yuffie was starting to revert back into her normal body now. Cloud was glad because he wouldn't have been able to hold on to the extra weight for long. He could easily deal with the weight of Yuffie, but not that of Darkside.  
  
A blast from Esthar connected with Bahamut. He instantly vanished. Irvine, Selphie, and Rinoa were all hurtling toward the heart of the city now. Cloud started to fly toward them but before he could get to them three huge metal plant type things shot from the city and swallowed each of the three.  
  
Rinoa, Selphie, and Irvine were now prisoners. The three plant cage type things started retracting slowly back into the city. One started to glow. A beam of red light erupted from the plant containing Rinoa. A small light blue creature crawled out of the hole. He crawled along the wire and chewed it in half. He ran back to the hole and reentered it.  
  
Another red blast came, then another, and another. It was like a laser light show. Finally the little blue guy jumped out of the hole and the fan on the top of his head spread wide. Rinoa leaped out of the hole and grabbed on to the small creature's front legs. The extended fan acted like a glider and Rinoa started gliding to the ground.  
  
The plant containing Selphie started to glow as well. Blasts of thunder erupted from the shell until it was shattered by a huge thunder type bird. Selphie rode on this GF's back and flew down to Rinoa who dropped down onto it as well. The little blue guy vanished.  
  
Irvine's cage wasn't glowing; instead it was being pummeled by his bullets. Holes were appearing everywhere. After there was a hole big enough, two summoning spheres erupted from his prison and connected into the sky. A huge swarm of bats came from now where and created a huge ball. Then a demonic humanoid type GF erupted from the bottom of the orb of bats. It flew over to Irvine's cell and cut through it like butter with his claws. Irvine jumped on the GF's back and they took off toward Selphie's GF. Irvine dropped down onto this one as well and the demon erupted into a shower of bats that flew away in random directions.  
  
Cloud flew over to them, he was very impressed. The group flew away from the city and landed about a mile away from its walls. The huge thunderbird vanished.  
  
"Why did they do that?" asked Cloud, "I thought you told me that they were keeping the Ragnarok their as a favor for you, but now they aren't even letting you enter the city."  
  
"I don't know. But I bet that Seifer and his quest for the Stone that we're also searching for is the cause. He doesn't want us to get to the Ragnarok so that we can find the Stone before him. He must have convinced the Estharians that they shouldn't let us enter the city. But I don't know why they would listen to Seifer. Unless there is a much bigger enemy, besides Seifer that doesn't want us to find the Stone." explained Irvine.  
  
Before Cloud could respond a small piece of metal slammed into the ground in front of the group. Before anyone could question why it was there a hologram appeared.  
  
"It is by the order of Seifer Almasy that you not be allowed to enter the city. He brought us a letter from Headmaster Cid of Balamb Garden stating that the Headmaster agrees full heartedly. We cannot allow you to enter this city. If you don't leave the cities limits at once we will be forced to attack you, unless you choose to surrender." the hologram of an Eshtarian Soldier said.  
  
"WHAT?! The Headmaster agreed to not let us enter the city?! WHY!? Why would he do a thing like that?!" screamed Selphie. Irvine was shaking his head.  
  
"This has to be a part of one of the Headmaster's plans. His plans seem weird and strange at the beginning but they always turn out for the best. But this just doesn't make sense. Why would the Headmaster give Seifer a note saying that we couldn't get in, when just a few hours ago he told us to do whatever we needed to rid everyone's hearts of Darkness? We need the Ragnarok to do that." said Irvine in a fit of rage.  
  
"Wait Irvine, Seifer could have forged a letter from the Headmaster. He was always doing that during classes so he could train at the Training Center." explained Selphie.  
  
Cloud heard something. Another piece of metal slammed into the ground. Another hologram appeared.  
  
"You have chosen to not leave the premises. Seifer Almasy has informed us that we may blow you away, and we intend to do so. Prepare to die." the hologram said.  
  
Cloud looked toward Esthar and saw that a small fleet of what looked like fight jets were coming towards them. He also saw a small battalion of armored cars coming towards them as well. The others noticed the oncoming attack as well.  
  
"We better summon all of the GF's that we can before they get here. We'll need them." said Cloud, with a small hint of unease.  
  
A huge clanging noise came from the battalion of cars. They were transforming into armored walking attack vehicles.  
  
"Uh oh! I've heard of them. Those things are called Eshtarian Battle Walkers. They are a force to be reckoned with in large numbers. I've counted seventeen of them total. That shouldn't be too bad. As long as we can get all of our GF's out here before they get close enough to attack." said Rinoa, who also sounded a little uneasy. Everyone else nodded.  
  
"DIAMOND DUST!" "MEGA FLARE!" "RUBY LIGHT!" "THUNDERSTORM!" "CHEF'S KNIFE!" "DARK MESSENGER!" "TORNADO ZONE!"  
  
GF summon orbs started flying everywhere. They collided and all sorts of GFs started appearing. Shiva appeared first. Then Bahamut, followed by the small blue guy Rinoa had summoned, the huge thunderbird appeared next, a small looking green guy wearing a twine bag appeared after the huge bird, the bat demon was next, followed by a huge pink monster with a strange looking tail. This GF battalion looked pretty strong to Cloud.  
  
Cloud searched Squall's mind to see what all of the GFs were called. The blue one Rinoa summoned was Carbuncle; Tonberry was the twine bag wearing one carrying the knife, Quezacotl was the huge thunderbird, Diablos was the bat demon Irvine had summoned, and Pandemona was the pink one that had the strange tail.  
  
Yuffie transformed into her version of Hellmasker, which she called Destructa. Instead of only one chainsaw she had two.  
  
"Yuffie! If you are going to fight like that then let me help you!" Rinoa told Yuffie. Yuffie nodded.  
  
"PROTECT.........SHELL.........REFLECT!" screamed Rinoa as she blasted Yuffie with defensive spells. Yuffie nodded in thanks and took off towards the Battle Walkers.  
  
Cloud got out the Oracles Sword. He asked Rinoa to cast the same spells on him as she had on Yuffie.  
  
"PROTE........." said Rinoa as time stopped. An Oracle appeared that Cloud had never seen before.  
  
"I, Bylandra, have come to give you another gift that you will need to use on your quest for the stones. It is called the Oracles Armor. It is extremely strong armor. Use it well." with that Bylandra raised her hand and snapped her fingers. In an instant Cloud was adorned with flashy armor.  
  
The armor was bluish-gray. The coat and pants that Squall wore had disappeared and were now replaced. Squall's pants were now silvery and metallic. His shirt and jacket had been replaced as well. He now had two pieces of metal wrapped completely around his upper body, from his neck down to his waist. This metal was the same metal in his pants, it felt like fabric but it was as hard as steel. He now had gloves made from the same such metal. Squall's jacket was the same except there were no sleeves, and it was a lot thinner. It was also a darker blue than the rest of the armor. Cloud like this new look.  
  
"...CT!" screamed Rinoa as time started again. A small light blue force barrier surrounded Cloud.  
  
"Hey Cloud! What happened to Squall's clothes? Why are they like that?!" asked Selphie who was very confused by the fact that he had changed in a split second into this new look.  
  
"Your planet's Oracle, Bylandra, gave this armor to me. I know I look a lot cooler but this will also make me a lot stronger." Cloud explained as he took off after Yuffie.  
  
"Ok GFs. Now is the time to attack! See those walking things and those fighters? Attack them! Aerial GFs attack the fighters. Ground level GFs attack the walkers. Use everything you have!" yelled Irvine. All of the GFs took off.  
  
Tonberry, Shiva, Carbuncle, and Pandemona all charged at the Battle Walkers. Quezacotl, Bahamut, and Diablos all flew toward the advancing fighters.  
  
Yuffie and Cloud were now within firing range of the Battle Walkers. They shot furiously. All of the shots that hit Yuffie had ricocheted off of her reflect shield and blasted into the ground beside her. Cloud had to dodge the blasts.  
  
Yuffie lunged at one of the Battle Walkers. She tried to cut one of the legs off with her chainsaws. The metal was excessively strong. Her chainsaws barely caused sparks to form.  
  
Cloud tried to deflect the lasers of the Battle Walkers back at them with his sword. It didn't work very well. The blasts would always miss. He hoped he would get lucky.  
  
The leg that Yuffie was trying to cut kicked at her, sending her flying back. She wasn't harmed because of Rinoa's protect spell but the wind was taken out of her. She jumped at the laser cannon mounted on the left of the cockpit. Before Yuffie could reach the cannon a huge shard of ice smashed through the cockpit. The Battle Walker fell to the ground with a clank.  
  
Cloud got lucky. He deflected a laser right back at the Battle Walker that had fired it. It exploded. Another Battle Walker smashed through the smoke and bombarded Cloud with a series of blasts. Cloud easily dodged them all.  
  
A red blast smashed into the Battle Walker that was firing at Cloud. Cloud turned to see Carbuncle. Carbuncle continued firing from the jewel embedded on his forehead. The Battle Walker collapsed. The Eshtarian soldier leaped out of the cockpit and charged at Cloud. Before the soldier could travel even fifteen feet, Carbuncle fired again. When the smoke Cloud could see what was left of the soldier. The only indication that there was even a soldier was that the boots that the soldier had worn were smoking. The rest of the soldier had been disintegrated.  
  
Shiva continued sending huge ice shards at the Battle Walkers. Pandemona was going crazy, he was sucking up all of the huge rocks that were scattered about the battlefield and was storing them in his tail. After he had about fifteen boulders he would launch them, one at a time, out of his mouth at a tremendous speed. The Battle Walkers that were unfortunate enough to get hit by these boulders were instantly reduced to scrap metal.  
  
Quezacotl was the first to attack the aerial fighters. He started to glow for a few seconds before unleashing a massive bolt of lightning at the approaching swarm. This bolt only hit two of the twenty-five fighters. The two that it did hit exploded.  
  
Bahamut started blasting at the fighters relentlessly. His aim wasn't that good. But despite his bad aim he managed to take out quite a few fighters.  
  
Diablos started creating energy ball after energy ball of dark energy. he created five before he started hurling them at the fighters.  
  
Cloud had an idea. His wings sprouted almost instantly. He decided that he would be a harder target to hit if he was flying. Plus he may be able to get the Battle Walkers to miss him and end up destroying a fighter or two.  
  
Cloud flew around and searched deep within Squall's mind what spells Squall new. After a few seconds of searching he found the perfect one, thundara. It wasn't the strongest thunder spell Squall knew but he didn't want to destroy the Battle Walkers, he wanted to shut them down. Cloud and the others could quite possibly need to use the battle walkers. If they were destroyed then they would never be able to use them.  
  
"GFs! Don't destroy the Walkers that I shut down! We will need these! Destroy the ones that are still moving after I shut down five!" yelled Cloud to the GFs. they seemed to understand.  
  
Cloud flew above a Battle Walker. He pointed his finger and smiled. "Thundara!" Cloud yelled. The bolt of lighting that erupted from the tip of Squall's finger pulsated through the Battle Walker. The Walker fell. The Walker's power supply had been temporarily shut down. Cloud decided to pay a visit to the pilot.  
  
Quezacotl continued blasting the fighters with electric blasts. The fighters seemed to be getting more and more immune to the electric shocks that the bolts sent through the ships. Quezacotl was now doing less and less damage.  
  
Bahamut kept on blasting. The fighters were now getting more and more agile. It seemed that the more fighters they destroyed the stronger the remaining ones became.  
  
Diablos was having a harder time getting his energy balls to attract themselves to a fighter. His throwing the balls wasn't doing anything anymore.  
  
Irvine noticed that another fleet of fighters was approaching, as well as more Battle Walkers. This was going to be a very hard battle to win.  
  
Irvine, Rinoa, and Selphie needed a safer place to summon more GFs. They each had one more. They couldn't summon them because the fighters had arrived and it would have been too dangerous. Irvine decided it would be a good time to try.  
  
"Rinoa. I think we can each summon our final GFs if you cast Reflect on us. I noticed that the beams from the Battle Walkers that had connected with Yuffie bounced right off of barrier." explained Irvine to Rinoa. She nodded.  
  
"REFLECT TRIO!" called Rinoa. Before anyone could blink an eye a reflect barrier appeared around Rinoa, Irvine, and Selphie.  
  
"Let's go!" said Irvine.  
  
"COUNTER ROCKETS!" "HOLY JUDGEMENT!" "QUADRA SWORDS!"  
  
A gate shot out of the line in the ground that Irvine's summon sphere's had made. The gates burst open revealing a frightening three-headed dog, Cerberus.  
  
The ground began to rattle and shake. Selphie's sphere's created a huge square on the ground. The shimmering color of the spheres disappeared revealing an enormous hole. A colossal heavenly robot appeared from the hole riding what looked like a gigantic lift. This GF was known as Alexander.  
  
Rinoa's sphere's each split in two, then shot into the sky. After a few seconds four swords slammed into the ground. A red, four-armed, ninja-type figure appeared in the middle of the swords. Each arm grabbed a sword. Gilgamesh was scrawled upon the blades of each of the swords.  
  
Irvine told each of the GFs to attack whichever enemy type they wanted, fighter or Battle Walker.  
  
Cerberus charged forward. One of his heads shot a blast into the air while the other two sent blasts towards the horde of Battle Walkers that had just arrived. All three of the blasts connected.  
  
Alexander charged for what seemed like forever before he unleashed a massive blast of holy energy at the continually growing swarm of fighters. About seventeen were destroyed. Alexander also unleashed an onslaught of Heavenly missiles at the Battle Walkers. Thirteen Battle Walkers were destroyed by this melee.  
  
Gilgamesh disappeared. He reappeared riding on the top of a fighter. He slammed one of his swords into the cockpit. He removed his sword and a large stream of blood came flowing out of the hole in the cockpit. The fighter was now unmanned. Gilgamesh jumped to the next fighter. The fighter he had just attacked slammed into another and they both exploded.  
  
Tonberry was now going ballistic. He was slicing Battle Walker after Battle Walker. The number of Battle Walkers was also growing. Tonberry and the other ground GFs had their work cut out for them.  
  
Cloud had now stopped the five Battle Walkers he needed. Cloud was now working on destroying the rest.  
  
Yuffie was also having a hard time. She found it easier to kill the pilot then destroy the Battle Walker by having it self-destruct. This plan worked for a while. After Yuffie had destroyed about eleven Battle Walkers the self-destruct option became password protected. Yuffie and the others now realized that the more fighters and Walkers they destroyed the stronger the rest would become.  
  
Shiva could now no longer freeze the Walkers. Her ice shards also disintegrated before they could even touch the walker. Shiva was becoming very concerned about this current change. How was she even going to help them now?  
  
Quezacotl was having the same problem. The fighters now absorbed his thunder blasts. It wouldn't be long until he was useless. His only other chance was the Battle Walkers. If he could damage them then he could still help.  
  
Quezacotl swooped down towards the Battle Walkers. He sent out a huge thunder bolt which vaporized about seven Walkers. Shiva hopped on Quezacotl's back as he flew by her.  
  
"If I can get closer to the fighter's I think I can damage those. The Battle walkers are now totally immune to my ice attacks!" explained Shiva in exasperation. Quezacotl flew higher.  
  
Carbuncle's attacks now had no effect on the Walker's. The only thing he could do now was dodge the attacks from the Walker's. Cloud grabbed Carbuncle just before a huge blast hit him. Cloud realized that Carbuncle was useless on land now so he threw him into the air with all of his might. Carbuncle landed on a fighter. He sent a bombardment of ruby blasts into the surrounding fighters. The blasts destroyed the fighters.  
  
Diablos and Bahamut had both given up on the fighters and had now landed on the ground. Bahamut's blasts vaporized many Battle walkers now. Diablos could also get his energy balls to chase after the Walkers.  
  
Cerberus kept blasting, one head blasting up and the other two blasting at the Walkers. His blasts still had an effect on both types of enemies.  
  
Gilgamesh's sword could now no longer puncture the fighter's thin metal hull. He was dumbfounded for about an instant. He leaped off of the fighter, deflecting about three blasts back at other fighters that had been shooting at him, before he slammed his swords into a Battle Walker.  
  
Alexander alternated his attacks. He would blast the Walkers with the mega blast then switch over to the missiles. This seemed to work pretty well because neither of the enemy types seemed to be developing an immunity to either of his attacks.  
  
Tonberry's knifes could no longer penetrate the metal, or even the glass, of any Walkers. He tried using his lantern now. The lantern worked. He could still fight the walkers...at least for now.  
  
Cloud was now flying among the fighters. He was randomly slicing the ones that got to close. He was doing fine for now but he wouldn't be doing any damage beforlong.  
  
Yuffie wasn't doing any damage anymore. She couldn't make a dent on any of the Walkers. She retreated back to where Irvine and the others were.  
  
Alexander was charging up for his energy attack. But before he could even finish his attack all of the fighters and Battle walkers disappeared.  
  
Cloud looked around in confusion. Then he heard something. A small metal saucer was coming this way.  
  
The saucer hovered in mid air for a second before sending a blast into the ground. This blast was much like the one that had transported Yuffie to Bylandrias. A figure emerged from the beam.  
  
Seifer.  
  
Afterword- I hope this chapter was exciting enough for ya! I hope I did Gilgamesh, Alexander, Carbuncle, and Tonberry justice! Please review! Also email me with character ideas. finalballz@yahoo.com . any ideas on characters I receive will be incorporated in my story. You must include which world they will appear on (FF9, FF10, or the Final Planet), what kind of weapon they use, if they are good or evil, if they are a boy or a girl, their name, their role in the story. Some roles include Protector of an Oracle Shrine, enemy, shopkeeper, ally etc. You decide! 


	10. Cloud's Partisan

Foreword- If you send me an email (finalballz@yahoo.com) containing an idea for a character that you would like to use in my story then I will certainly use it. If you want to know what to put in the profile of the character just look at the Afterword of Chapter 9 (Esthar's Endless Swarm)!  
  
Alexander stopped charging his cannons. He stepped in front of the group, shielding them from Seifer's view.  
  
Seifer smirked. "You guys are so pathetic! You to use a GF to protect you from me! How cowardly! Well I guess I'll level the playing field. I'll use my GFs to destroy yours, and then I'LL destroy YOU! Prepare yourselves!"  
  
"HELL FIRE!" "ZANTETZUKEN!" "BROTHERLY LOVE!" "1,000 NEEDLES!" "SILENT VOICE!" "TSUNAMI!"  
  
GF summoning sphere's erupted from Seifer's body. The slammed into the ground at random locations revealing a menagerie of summon beasts.  
  
There was Ifrit, a hideous ogre that controlled the element of fire.  
  
Odin, overlord of death, who rode a horse with six legs.  
  
The Brothers, Sacred and Minotaur, were companions that oversaw the forces of Earth.  
  
Cactuar, a harmless looking Cactus with a face.  
  
Siren, a beautiful maiden with a voice that could kill.  
  
And finally, Leviathan, A huge snake-like dragon the ruled the essence of the ocean.  
  
Seifer's GF's assembled in a disorganized group. Cloud and company's stood in a line. This battle was inevitable.  
  
"ATTACK! HIT THEM WITH EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT! WE'LL SHOW THEM WE ARE THE STRONGEST!" screamed Seifer to his GFs. Ifrit, Odin, The Brothers, Cactuar, Siren, and Leviathan all charged.  
  
Quezacotl, Shiva, Tonberry, Carbuncle, Alexander, Diablos, Bahamut, Pandemona, Gilgamesh, and Cerberus all stood their ground for a few seconds before they too, charged. Rinoa, Cloud and the others were all a safe distance away from the GFs.  
  
Leviathan shot a huge jet of water at Shiva. Shiva froze the water before it got to close to her. She kicked the huge ice shard and it shattered into a million tiny pieces.  
  
Gilgamesh disappeared. Odin jumped off of his horse. He began running away from his horse at a mind blowing pace. Odin turned around just in time to see Gilgamesh slice his horse in two. Odin was overcome in a fit of rage. Gilgamesh took out all four swords and charged at Odin.  
  
Carbuncle and Tonberry were getting attacked by Ifrit. Ifrit was swinging pretty fast and it took a lot of quick thinking and swiftness on Carbuncle's and Tonberry's part to dodge his furiously flying fists.  
  
Shiva now focused her attention on Siren. Shiva focused for a second before sending an ice beam toward Siren. Siren noticed the blast and took in a deep breath before she let out an ear piercing scream. Shiva grabbed her head in agony. The blast disappeared because she couldn't concentrate on it anymore. No other GFs were being affected by this scream, just Shiva.  
  
Bahamut and Leviathan had begun a huge blast battle in the sky. Most of the blasts never connected. The ones that did seemed to shake the GF only a little. Quezacotl appeared behind Leviathan and blasted it with a huge thunderbolt. Leviathan roared in pain before slamming Quezacotl in the head with a tremendous tail slam. Quezacotl's unconscious body slammed into the ground below. Bahamut was furious.  
  
Gilgamesh and Odin finally met. Odin was at a slight disadvantage. Although his sword was quite large, he only had one. Gilgamesh had four. Odin overlooked this and begun the clash. Odin was able to match blows pretty well with his one sword. Gilgamesh started to swing more furiously. Odin kicked up the pace as well. They seemed to be almost equally matched.  
  
The brothers decided to team up on Pandemona. Pandemona was able to take hits pretty well, but the bothers punches and kicks were slowly wearing him down. Pandemona slammed Sacred, the tinnier of the Brothers, back pretty far. The bigger one, Minotaur, ran over to where Sacred landed. He picked him up. Sacred horns began to glow. Minotaur grabbed Sacred's hands and launched him toward Pandemona. Sacred slammed into Pandemona which caused Pandemona to take off. Pandemona then slammed into Cerberus. Pandemona and Cerberus were both unconscious. Sacred's attack was a two for one.  
  
Cactuar was starting to make Diablos mad. Cactuar was extremely fast, and he also had a knack for launching Cactus spines deep into your flesh. Diablos seemed to have met his match in a small, swift, and utterly harmlessly looking cactus with legs. Cactuar leaped into the air and slammed into Diablos' head. The spines appeared to be draining Diablos' energy. Cactuar leaped from the ground and slammed into Diablos' head. He collapsed with a terrible clunk on the sand below.  
  
Leviathan had Bahamut trapped. He had wrapped himself around Bahamut and began to squeeze. The pressure around Bahamut was beginning to be too much for him to tolerate. He let out one last roar before he disintegrated into tiny summoning sphere particles. The particles returned to Irvine.  
  
Seifer's GFs clearly had the advantage in this battle. Not even one of Seifer's GFs was unconscious or gone. This was not looking good for Cloud and the others.  
  
Leviathan charged up a huge ball of energy. He shot it at Cloud and the others. The blast slammed the ground right in front of the group and caused a huge shockwave. The shockwave sent everyone backward. No one was injured. The only exception was Rinoa who had fallen unconscious. Gilgamesh, Carbuncle, and Pandemona disappeared abruptly. There were now only three GFs that could fight, Tonberry, Alexander, and Shiva.  
  
Odin was surprised by the sudden exit of Gilgamesh. He saw Tonberry's knife and decided to fight him. Ifrit was still trying to pound him but Tonberry was just too fast. But before Odin could run three summon spheres collided in the center of the battle field.  
  
The middle set of spheres erupted in flames. Two grand wings emerged from the huge fireball. The fireball resided to reveal a wondrous bird, The Phoenix.  
  
The other two revealed less marvelously colored creatures. One set revealed a Chocobo, which Cloud was surprised to see. He hadn't known that Chocobos lived on more than just his planet.  
  
The last set also reputed in flames, although the fireball was considerably smaller than the one the Phoenix created. The flames disappeared to reveal a small tiger like dude, a Moomba.  
  
Selphie noticed a figure on the top of a tall mountain that was near them. She pointed him out to the others. But he disappeared before the others could see him. Selphie sighed.  
  
The Moomba got right into the action. He ran towards Ifrit, who was about three or four times bigger than him, and gave Ifrit a quick and powerful kick to the stomach. Ifrit grabbed his stomach in agony. Although the Moomba's kick was hard and strong Ifrit was only hurt for a second before he recuperated. He grabbed Moomba by the neck and threw him with all of his might at the ground. After the dust cleared Ifrit saw that the Moomba was at the bottom of a two foot deep crater. He laughed. Tonberry charged forward.  
  
The Chocobo was pecking Siren like mad. Siren was being pummeled by the Chocobo's hard beak that she couldn't take a breath deep enough to scream as loud as she had when Shiva was attacking her. Shiva walked up casually.  
  
"Siren, Siren, Siren. Isn't this enough to make you scream? Well too bad the one you unleashed on me will be the last one you scream in a while. Bye- Bye" said Shiva calmly. Shiva raised her hand and a small blast of blue jetted from the tips of her fingers. The frozen body of Siren smashed into a million small particles after Chocobo gave her one final slam. Shiva smirked.  
  
Phoenix wasn't very happy. He saw Quezacotl, Cerberus, and Diablos on the ground unconscious. He looked towards Irvine and the others and he saw that Rinoa was also unconscious. He started to glow. He launched four fireballs into the sky, each one landed on one of the unmoving sufferers. All four were instantly brought back into consciousness. Phoenix took off after Sacred and Minotaur, who were the closest.  
  
Rinoa stood up. She felt dizzy. She shook her head and quickly came back to reality. All of the sudden Gilgamesh, Carbuncle, and Pandemona appeared on the battle field with a flash. Since they hadn't been defeated or called back into Rinoa's body before Rinoa passed out and was unable to concentrate on them they, technically, weren't gone, just powerless and bodiless. But now that Rinoa was able to concentrate on them they regained their bodies and their power. The scales of this GF battle was slwly being tipped in Cloud and company's favor.  
  
Selphie heard a noise approaching from behind. She turned and saw a sphere that looked exactly like the one that Seifer rode in. It stopped about fifteen feet away from Rinoa and the others. It glowed for a second before a beam erupted into the ground.  
  
A tall figure emerged from the light. He was wearing a blue vest, a white undershirt, black pants, and black shoes.  
  
"OH MY GOSH! LAGUNA IS THAT YOU!?" screamed Selphie as she ran up to him. The man nodded. "Hey, I have a question Laguna. Aren't you the president of Esthar?" Laguna nodded. "Then why are you wearing those clothes? I thought you normally wore a flowing white cloaky thing."  
  
"I do. I just returned from a trip to Winhil to see Raine. I had to land in that mountain before I came here because I was afraid that my transporter would be attacked by the GFs that are being controlled by Seifer. Plus there was a small malfunction in the saucer, so I ended up landing before I knew about the GF's. I decided to help you when I first saw you down there fighting with Seifer. So I didn't even know you were down there before I landed. You guys are lucky that I came here though because my Phoenix summon seemed to be a great help."  
  
"Yes. It was. We appreciate your assistance President Laguna." said Rinoa. Laguna smiled.  
  
"I've told you about a million times Rinoa. You don't have to keep calling me 'President' all of the time. You only have to call me 'President' when we are in an important business setting. Not when we are fighting together or lounging around or whatever."  
  
"I'll try harder Presi... Laguna." said Rinoa, who was now a shade of deep red. Laguna laughed.  
  
Ifrit was still laughing at the Moomba. The Moomba wasn't unconscious but he was pretty hurt. Tonberry didn't think it was that funny. He snuck up behind Ifrit before jumping in the air and putting a huge gash in his back. Ifrit let out a huge roar! But before Ifrit could turn Tonberry leapt off of Ifrit's back and landed on the ground. He immediately took out his electro-lantern and sent a huge bolt of lighting into Ifrit's open wound. Ifrit's body began to pulsate violently before he erupted in a wave of summon sphere shards.  
  
Cactuar was toying with carbuncle. He would run up to him and blast him with one needle before kicking him in the face. He smiled each time he did this. Carbuncle got up after about the seventh needle. He charged up the ruby on his forehead and blasted Cactuar with a red-hot ruby blast. After the blast was finished Cactuar was nowhere to be found.  
  
Seifer was starting to get angry. He held his hand out toward the GF battlefield. His hand started to glow a shimmery, glowy, silver color. Small golden bolts of lightening were forming around Seifer's hand as well. A ball began to form in the palm of Seifer's hand. After he let it grow for a few seconds he stretched his arm farther toward the battle before he screamed "ULTIMA!"  
  
Numberless destructive silver beams erupted from the ball that was on Seifer's hand. They flew with direct precision toward the GFs being controlled by Cloud and company. Seifer's GFs all disappeared and reappeared behind Seifer before any of the blasts could hit them. Seifer's eyes were beginning to glow.  
  
The GFs that Cloud and Company were controlling were trying to dodge the blasts. The tinier GFs were doing a better job of this. Carbuncle managed to dodge about three or four blasts before he was hit by one. The effect was disastrous. Carbuncle started to glow the same color as the Ultima blast. After about a few seconds of glowing he exploded in a flash of Summoning Sphere particles. Rinoa and the others were horrified.  
  
Quezacotl was next. He found out the hard way that his lightning bolts had no effect on the beams. He erupted in the same way as Carbuncle. Selphie and the others could hardly bare to watch this mayhem. It quickly got to too many were erupting at once.  
  
After Quezacotl, Shiva got blasted, then Bahamut, Cerberus, Pandemona, Tonberry, Moomba, Chocobo, Gilgamesh, Phoenix, and finally Diablos. Alexander was the last one standing. He was farther back than the other GFs and hadn't been even targeted yet. But this changed quickly. Alexander got pummeled by about seventeen blasts. He was disintegrated instantly. He didn't even have time to start glowing. Selphie burst into tears. The end seemed so near to them.  
  
Seifer's hand stopped glowing. He smirked. "Ok. You may kill them now!" The GFs that Seifer summoned that were left charged.  
  
Cloud ran forward. He drew out the Oracle's Sword. He flashed and was once again adorned with the Oracle's Armor. Yuffie quickly started transforming into Darkside.  
  
Before the opposing GFs could even get within 30 feet of the group the sound of screeching tires filled everyone's heads causing them to pause and turn to see where the sound was coming from. There was a Balamb Garden armored car sitting in the sand about 20 feet away from the group. Before anyone could question it's being there the door was kicked open and two summoning spheres erupted from the opening. They collided and began to take form between the opposing GFs and the group.  
  
The shimmering figure the spheres began to shape into the form of a humanoid being. There was a huge flash before the GF was revealed. It was a gray, lion-like, type creature with wings. It stood its hind legs. It had random shards of fabric tattered around his body. This GF was known as Griever.  
  
"Is that...?" wondered Selphie. She couldn't even finish her own question, she was just too astonished.  
  
"Who could have summoned him? I thought he only accepted worthy and great GF summoners to take him as their GF." affirmed Irvine. Rinoa nodded.  
  
A kid emerged from the car. He had reddish-tan hair. He looked like he was only fourteen or fifteen years old. He reached back into the car and pulled out a Gunblade. He started to run toward the group.  
  
Griever just stayed their floating in front of the opposing GFs. He extended his hand a spear appeared with a small flash. Griever swung the spear with great precision around his body as a demonstration to make the other GFs nervous. It seemed to be working because the other GFs started to back down from where they stood.  
  
The boy reached the group quickly.  
  
"Hello. My name is Travis. I am here because the Oracle named Archemidius gave the GF Griever. He told me to drive to the Estharian Plains and help Cloud." explained Travis.  
  
"Archemidius? He sent you here?" wondered Cloud.  
  
"Yes. I was in the middle of Gunblade Warfare when a strange hooded man asked to see me. He took me a safe distance away before he started to explain this all to me. He explained the whole ordeal that Cloud had to face. He told me that I should help him because I'm the most qualified one at Balamb Garden to take on such a task. I'm guessing they chose me because I'm the star student in all of the Gunblade classes I'm in. My swordsmanship is outmatched only by Squall and Seifer." explained Travis  
  
"Well any ally is better then none. I'm guessing that you'll be accompanying us on our entire journey?" interjected Cloud. Travis nodded.  
  
"Headmaster Cid told me to, as well as Archemidius. Archemidius also gave me this." said Travis as he held up a duplicate Oracle's Materia. "Archemidius said that I was the Chosen One's Partisan. I'm supposed to follow you everywhere you go from now on."  
  
"I could use the help. I'm glad that the Oracle's finally figured out that it would be a help to have a few permanent helpers." said Cloud, looking at Yuffie, "I guess I can't say no to someone who's willing to help me complete my grueling quest to save the universe. The journey has already been a dangerous one. Many of my friends have lost their lives. It will be a great sacrifice on your part to totally abandon everyone you know and love, just because an Oracle and your Headmaster told you to. I am sure you will be a great asset." Cloud finished, as he turned to Travis.  
  
"Well I guess we better clear things up here so we can get to the Ragnarok," said Irvine with a smile. Travis, Cloud, and the others all nodded.  
  
Travis took a step forward. "Griever! Stop showing off and teach them a lesson!" Griever smiled and nodded. He turned back towards the opposing GFs. He laughed before he disappeared.  
  
Odin was on guard. He leaped into the air. He swung his sword at nothing but connected with something. Griever appeared almost instantly after the clanging of metal erupted from the invisible source. Odin and Griever were very skilled in the art of weapon warfare. But Griever easily outmatched Odin. Odin attempted to swing again before he was slammed into the ground by a downward kick from Griever, who was moving as quick as lightning.  
  
Odin created a crater of his own. He stood up for a bout a second before his stomach erupted violently spewing blood and guts everywhere. The cause of the gash was obvious, Griever. But griever hadn't appeared yet. After a few seconds he did. His spear was shoved right into the hole in Odin's chest. Odin shattered violently into a trillion tiny pieces of Summoning Sphere.  
  
Leviathan, Sacred, and Minotaur all looked scared. Griever disappeared again. Leviathan was next. He started to retreat backwards at an alarming speed. But before he could even move a few feet he was split into about sixteen pieces. Each chunk of Leviathan erupted in a cloud of Bubbles, which dissolved before they could reach the ground.  
  
Sacred and Minotaur, like Odin, tried to fight Griever. Griever easily dodged their attacks and disappeared. Griever appeared in the air. He held up two fingers. A tiny ball of energy appeared on both. He pointed his two fingers at the Brothers. The two balls launched toward the terribly scared duo. The balls slammed through the Brothers body an exploded after they hit the ground. There was no trace of the Brothers anywhere.  
  
Before the smoke could clear a battalion of newly formed Ultima blasts erupted from this newly formed cloud of dust. Griever easily dodged these attacks. Seifer's last ditch effort at victory failed.  
  
Travis called Griever off. Seifer charged through the still unsettled smoke, his Gunblade drawn.  
  
Cloud ran forward. Travis grabbed his Gunblade and charged after Cloud.  
  
Seifer stopped and held out his hand. He gestured for Cloud and Travis to come closer.  
  
"Bring it on!" yelled Seifer before his entire body started to glow.  
  
Afterword- I hope this wasn't too much of a repeat chapter. I was using this chapter as an introduction to Travis. I thought I would be better if Griever was summoned at the last second during a loosing battle. I also used Laguna instead of another character at the recommendation of Alexandra (The Alexandra who reviews my story a lot). So if you liked Laguna's appearance thank her for it! 


	11. Unexpected Foe

Foreword- This chapter won't be as long as previous chapters.  
  
Seifer's whole body erupted in light. His sword started glowing blue and his body was a shimmering yellowish-gold color. Rinoa, Selphie, Irvine, and Laguna had to squint because the light was so bright.  
  
"YOU THINK YOU FOOLS HAVE A CHANCE AT EVEN DEFEATING ME!" yelled Seifer in a voice that was not his own, "I AM THE GREAT SORCERESS ADEL! I WILL CRUSH YOU WITH THIS BODY! SEIFER HAS MADE A GOOD HOST! NOW PREPARE TO DIE!"  
  
Cloud gaped. Seifer was a host for a sorceress named Adel. That means he was possessed by her the whole time. Cloud searched Squall's mind for a few seconds.  
  
It made sense to Cloud after he had found the answer he was searching for. The Seifer that Squall knew could only use primitive, worthless magic like Fire and Blizzard. The Ultima spell was much, much too complicated for Seifer to master. Very few people could learn it well. Or at least this is what Squall's mind told Cloud.  
  
All of the sudden there was a huge eruption and a grand flash of light. The light dimmed very swiftly. Instead of Seifer standing there, there was a Woman, a tall unbearably ugly woman. She had hair like snakes, and skin like scales. She reminded Cloud of a medusa type monster.  
  
"So you must be Adel," Travis asked in a calm, but angry voice, "I've heard of you. You are too scared to fight in your own body so you possess the bodies of others to fight in. You are a huge coward."  
  
"Foolish boy! I hold within me the power to level a huge city, like Esthar, in a few mere moments. You would be wise to retreat now while you have a chance." laughed Adel.  
  
"You don't scare me Adel!" Travis said. Cloud motioned for him to shut up because his mouth would get him in trouble.  
  
"Well then foolish boy, let me demonstrate the awesome powers that I possess and lets see if that changes your mind." Adel smirked.  
  
Adel raised her hand and a huge mountain appeared out of nowhere. She pointed one finger at the mountain and a small beam of light erupted from the end of her finger and took off toward the luminous mountain. The mountain exploded violently in a shower of small stones and huge boulders. There was a ton of dust. Travis' plan had worked.  
  
Everyone had started taking off toward the city. Adel had no idea that this was happening until enough of the dust cleared so that she could see they were all gone. She was furious!  
  
"NO ONE MOCKS ME! I WILL DESTROY YOU, YOU FOOLISH BOY! MARK MY WORDS I AM NOT FINISHED WITH YOU YET!" Adel yelled before the vanished.  
  
Cloud and the others were getting pretty close to the city. They would have made it if the dust hadn't cleared and Adel hadn't of seen that they were gone. Adel appeared in front of the group.  
  
"So, you think you can run away from me do you? I'll teach you a lesson." said Adel before she started to transform.  
  
Cloud grabbed out his sword and so did Travis. Rinoa was quickly attaching her projectile weapon so that she could fight if need be. Selphie and Irvine both had their weapons out before Cloud and Travis had theirs out. All of them were in a defensive fighting stance. Yuffie began to transform.  
  
Adel grew horns. Her skin started turning purple. She grew taller and bulkier. Her eyes turned black and emotionless. She hunched over. She now was standing on four legs. She sprouted a tail. After a few minutes of bone crunching sounds and squishes, Adel was finished transforming. She had become a Behemoth.  
  
Rinoa and Selphie gasped. They had only ever read about Behemoths. But what they were looking at right now had no comparison to what they had ever imagined it would be like. Adel roared and Rinoa and Selphie both cringed.  
  
Irvine, Cloud, and Travis weren't exactly afraid but they were still nervous. Adel stepped forward. He let out another horrendous roar. Birds scattered from trees that looked like they were miles away.  
  
"SCAN!" cried out Selphie before anyone knew what was happening. A small screen appeared in front of Selphie's face which displayed the Behemoth's vital stats.  
  
"It's weak against Water and Ice! Use the strongest of these spell that you have!" yelled Selphie. Everyone nodded and looked at her. Adel charged.  
  
Adel took a huge swing at Cloud. Cloud was off guard and the massive blow connected. Cloud slammed into the ground several feet away unconscious. Adel's eyes glowed with evil.  
  
Travis was mad. He lunged at the gargantuan purple beast that was Adel. Adel slashed at him as well. She was much, much faster and agile than he had expected. He slammed into the ground with a loud clunk. His Gunblade landed several feet away from him.  
  
Irvine, Selphie, and Rinoa were horrified. Laguna was also there but he didn't have any weapons with him. The only thing he had were those three GFs. And now that they were unconscious they were no help.  
  
Adel looked at Rinoa, Selphie, Irvine, and Laguna with looked like amusement. They could tell that she wanted to tear each of them to pieces.  
  
Rinoa pointed her hand out toward Adel. "Blizzaga!" a large beam of ice erupted from the tip of Rinoa's hand. Before the beam could hit Adel she sliced it with her claws. The beam diminished in an instant. Rinoa gasped.  
  
Irvine started blasting Adel with his gun. The bullets collided with Adel's skin and ricocheted off. The ground started erupting in small geysers of dirt and sand because of the bullets.  
  
Adel seemed to be laughing. Adel lunged. But before Adel could even get close she was blasted by a huge ball of energy traveling at a high speed. Adel flew into the air and slammed into the ground. Then the thunderbolts came. Adel began to pulsate violently. Then she erupted in a huge flash of light.  
  
After the light died down Selphie and the others saw the people who attacked Adel, Zell and Quistis. Zell used a special technique he called the Blazer Canon. Quistis had used a very powerful version of the Thunder spell, which she created and called, Thungenta.  
  
Adel was stunned. Quistis ran over to cloud and used a Life spell. Cloud regained consciousness almost instantly. He stood up and looked blankly at Zell and Quistis.  
  
"Who are you?" wondered Cloud.  
  
"I am Quistis and this is my friend Zell. We are SeeDs and Headmaster Cid told us to assist you on your journey. He didn't realize, when he first allowed you the two SeeDs of your choosing that the enemies would be this strong. This is why he sent us here to help you. I see that he already sent Travis to help you," Quistis explained.  
  
"We better hurry before she recovers. We need to get into Esthar to get the Ragnarok." Cloud told everyone. Travis now stood up. He grabbed his sword and put it in his holster.  
  
"Good Idea," said Travis, "Let's go."  
  
Before anyone could move Adel started to get up. All of the sudden a beam of light shot Adel. It was a cure spell. Everyone turned to see where the beam had come from... Seifer.  
  
"If you don't defeat her now she'll probably possess someone else! She won't stop trying to defeat you until she is dead!" yelled Seifer as he began to run towards the group.  
  
Travis grabbed his sword and stepped forward.  
  
"I'm not here to fight! I'm here to help! I know where the stone is! She showed me where it was when she had possessed me! I only cured her so that she could actually fight back... how fun is it to fight and kill someone who's defenseless?" Seifer informed the group.  
  
Travis stepped back. "Ok, we believe you. Now let us do the fighting here. We can handle it." Seifer nodded.  
  
Adel's horns began to charge up. Small particles of energy that were in the surrounding energy started getting absorbed into the horns. She roared before sending a huge beam of light at the group.  
  
Cloud lunged forward. His wings and armor appeared instantly. He took out his sword and held the blunt end toward the beam. "Oracle's Inferno!" The sword erupted in flames. Cloud pointed the tip toward Adel and then brought it back and then pushed the blade forward violently. A huge beam of fire erupted from the sword.  
  
The flames and the beam met and created a huge explosion. Both blasts disappeared instantly. The group and Adel all fell toward the bottom of the crater that the eruption had created.  
  
Everyone slammed into the ground. Rinoa, Selphie, Irvine, Seifer, Laguna, Zell, Cloud, and Quistis were unconscious. Travis was fortunate enough to have someone break his fall.  
  
Adel roared. Travis stepped forward. He brought his hand to his face. Then he shoved his hand towards Adel.  
  
"Lion's Rage!"  
  
Two summon spheres spiraled around Travis before joining about 5 feet over Travis' head.  
  
Griever was on his way. 


	12. The Partisan's Farewell

Foreword- Im sorry I haven't updated in SOOO long! I feel really bad about that. I'll be updating more frequently now.........this chapter will be one of the best one's yet! I promise! Anyway......... now on to the chapter you've all been waiting for!  
  
Adel's eye's flashed a violent amber color. She knew this monster was a powerful one, and she wasn't about to just let it come over here and stop her now, she had come too far and her plan had worked to well. "Foolish Boy!" Adel grumbled, "No mere pet will stand a chance at defeating me, you better call him off before he gets hurt!"  
  
Griever snorted and Travis shot an evil look in Adel's direction. "You are quite arrogant considering the situation. Griever clearly has the advantage!"  
  
"You may think that foolish boy! But you haven't seen what this body can do, you will be quick to realize how swiftly the tide of battle can change!" Travis continued his glare, motioned to Griever, then smiled deeply.  
  
Griever roared and then flew straight upwards. After a few moments of flying he stopped, pulled out his spear. Then roared again, this time hurdling downward at a tremendous speed at Adel.  
  
Adel barely opened her hand and Griever stopped directly in his tracks. Adel closed her hand and Griever began to roar in agony, he was being crushed telekinetically. Travis could hear Griever's bone's crunching as they were slowly being mangled and crunched beneath the invisible weight.  
  
Griever roared louder than before and began to fight the force of Adel's mind. He was fighting a losing battle, but that did not stop him from trying. Griever closed his eyes for a moment. He reopened them a blinding red light emitted from them. Griever roared so loud the ground began to crack and finally thrust his arms out violently, Adel's hand snapped open instantly.  
  
Travis smirked and laughed out loud, probably a little louder than he should have. Adel turned to him and clenched her fist tightly in his direction. Almost instantaneously Travis dropped his sword and yelled with pain. The pain Griever had felt was nothing compared to this, Adel hadn't clenched her fist while crushing Griever, she merely closed it softly. Travis fingers snapped backwards violently as they were snapped and broken, his elbows bent so far the way they weren't supposed to bend they snapped. His ribs gave an awful crunch as they broke like chicken bones, several poked out of his chest.  
  
Adel now laughed an evil laugh as she brought her arm back., keeping a firm grip on Travis but not completely letting go. She thrust her hand forward and opened her hand swiftly. Travis was thrown violently backward and an earsplitting speed. The ground was cracking underneath him as he flew toward the horizon, still screaming in pain. A huge fountain of sand followed him, shooting out of the crack he was making in the ground. About 1 mile later, his mangled body slammed into the ground with such a tremendous force he created a small crater. The crater was the last place Travis saw before he drifted into unconsciousness. Griever disappeared because Travis could not concentrate upon him. Travis blood lay his autograph upon the baron ground of the desert. The sand geyser finally caught up to him and sent a shower of sand into the crater, covering Travis completely blocking him from receiving any air.  
  
Cloud, Yuffie, and the others stared horrifically at the huge cloud of dust that was floating into the air where Travis had landed. Rinoa slumped to the ground and buried her face in her hands. Cloud was furious. He searched Squall's mind for a solution, Griever was the only way to go, but Travis was in charge of him. He needed to get Griever back into this battle. And Squall knew how.......  
  
"Draw!" Cloud pointed at Travis in the distance, both Cloud and the small pile of sand began to glow, "Extract GRIEVER!" The sand began to glow much brighter and after a few seconds a small ball of energy came shooting at Cloud. He was just about to absorb it when all the sudden-  
  
"CLOUD, WATCH OUT!!!!" Cloud turned just in time to dodge Adel's monstrous claws. Cloud leapt up but another claw swung. Cloud barely got missed by this one. He landed on the ground and leapt back, facing Adel. He reached up and grabbed the shimmering ball and pressed it against his chest. He felt Griever's life force surge through him. Cloud stepped forward confidently and said, in a voice overflowing with vocal ice, "It ends now."  
  
Cloud didn't even have to utter the summon words, Griever came on his own. Out of nowhere Rinoa screamed. She picked herself up and started running toward Travis.  
  
Griever withdrew his spear. This time Griever looked much more menacing and ferocious. Adel wasn't impressed. "You STILL are using that weak animal. You saw how easily I withheld him before. I could easily do it agai....." Adel paused. Griever had disappeared.  
  
Adel looked around, stopped, then moved about 4 inches to the right. The head of Griever's spear lunged at empty air. Adel grabbed the handle and pulled Griever forward and then sent him reeling back with a powerful shot to the face. Adel still help onto Griever's spear. With no trouble at all she vaporized it. Griever was just now recovering from the daze of the blow he just received.  
  
Griever roared and lunged with fists clenched. Griever swung with massive force and incredible speed. Cloud and the others could barely keep their eyes on the punches that Griever was throwing. What was worse was Adel was faster, she didn't have to worry about whether or not she could block the blows. It was cakewalk for her. Griever began to get eve more furious.  
  
~~~  
  
  
  
Rinoa was running as fast as she could go, but it seemed, to her at least, like she was running in slow motion, because no matter how far she ran, it always seemed like she wasn't moving forward. Rinoa heard Griever roar in the distance behind her, but she told herself not to turn around. She needed to help Travis. And if she was distracted it would only take away from her ability to help.  
  
~~~  
  
Griever was doing worse than anyone had every anticipated. Adel could match everyone of his attacks with a doubly impressive maneuver. It seemed like their final hope was going to fail. Cloud felt like he was forgetting something important just then. He thought for several moments while he watched Griever's flurry of punches and kicks get blocked with ease. Then it hit him. Seifer. He wasn't over here with the group. He was off on his own. He would make a great distraction.  
  
Cloud pulled out a small device and entered a code in. He was dialing Seifer's SeeD communicator. But Seifer wasn't answering. And the ultimate horror was happening right before their eyes.  
  
"Diamond SHACKLES!!!!" screamed Adel, cackling the whole time. Glowing bracelet looking things appeared on Griever's wrists and ankles. Griever didn't think much of it until he began to lunge. Adel snapped and at once the shackles solidified. Griever stopped Dead in his tracks...and fought furiously to get out. While Griever was busy fighting for his freedom Adel was chanting what Squall's mind recognized as the Spell of Possession. Cloud's stomach lurched when Squall's brain told him this. This was the only time he felt this afraid thus far into the journey. The table tables had never been this severely.  
  
Adel began to glow and finally she became a ghostly apparition type thing. Griever was still struggling. Adel flew inside Griever's body. Griever began to stop flailing at once. The shackles dissolved. And Adel, now in control of Griever's body, began to laugh. Uncontrollably.  
  
Cloud and the others were dead afraid of what would happen to them because of this unfortunate turn of events. Cloud, just to be safe, pulled out his sword.  
  
"I'll deal with you later, vermin," screeched Adel, "I've got a foolish boy to deal with right now." And with that, she launched off towards Travis' final resting place.  
  
  
  
~~~  
  
Rinoa was almost there when Griever blew past her and hovered above the spot where Travis lay. "That's great! Griever will help him out," Rinoa thought to herself. She started running a little slower. She was not expecting what happened next.  
  
  
  
~~~  
  
Adel flew higher above Travis' crater and held a hand toward the sky, a small ball of energy began glowing in the palm of her hand. She threw this ball down onto Travis' crater. There was a small flash before the explosion came. The explosion erupted straight up. It was like a volcano. Rinoa gasped, then collapsed because her legs stopped working. All she could do was watch in horror as everything inside that hole, including Travis, was instantly incinerated. Rinoa just sat there, since that's all she could do, and wailed uncontrollably.  
  
Adel waited for the fire to dissipate to make sure her goal had been fulfilled. It had, she smiled an evil smile, or tried to anyway, Griever wasn't much of a smiler. Adel then flew upwards and started flying towards Esthar.  
  
  
  
~~~  
  
"Laguna!" Cloud cried.  
  
"I'm on it!" Laguna shouted back while holding out a holographic recording device in front of him. "This is President Laguna Loire. I order that the City of Esthar be hereby evacuated. I repeat, please evacuate Esthar. Kiros and Ward. You have a special assignment. Please execute evacuation plan 667-y-sigma. That is all. President Laguna Loire signing off."  
  
"How long does it take for the entire city to be evacuated?" asked Selphie, who was horrified beyond what she thought was humanly possible.  
  
"Roughly 45 minutes if everything goes smoothly. I hope it does, because Adel seems to still be trying to figure out the full potential of her new body. She can't figure out how to use Griever's attacks until after the city is evacuated." Selphie nodded. Right now they could only stand and wait.  
  
  
  
~~~  
  
Rinoa finally found her legs again and managed to walk over to the edge of the hole that Adel had made. She looked into it and called, hoping that Travis would answer back, even though she knew he never would. Little did Rinoa know that she was being watched by Adel. Rinoa had fallen into her trap. Adel aimed carefully and launched a small ball of energy right at the ground behind Rinoa.   
  
  
  
~~~  
  
Cloud watched as she did this and wondered what she could possibly be aiming at? Then it hit him like a sack of bricks, Rinoa. He had forgotten all about her! He quickly turned and saw her standing there, right on the edge of the huge hole in the ground. Cloud leapt into the air and took off after her as fast as he could. But he knew he wasn't going to get there in time.  
  
  
  
~~~  
  
Rinoa was oblivious to the whole scheme Adel had set up. And it was still working wonderfully for her. Now the biggest threat was distracted and she could take out the rest of the pitiful group, and then it would only be Cloud and Rinoa to deal with.  
  
~~~  
  
Cloud jetted forward faster than he had ever done before. He knew the ball of energy would get there before he did, unless he could think of something fast. If only he could go faster! "You can go faster," a voice told him, "You have the power too, search within and you'll find it."  
  
Cloud thought for a second before Squall's mind gave him the answer he was searching for, Haste. "HASTE!" screamed Cloud! At once Cloud began to glow a reddish color and he launched himself forward with such velocity that any city or town he passed over would've been destroyed because of the wind he created behind him. The ground cracked underneath him, just as it had when Travis had been hurled backward.  
  
Cloud looked up and tried to find the energy blast when all at once he stopped abruptly. His red glow faded. He was being held by Adel. He just didn't realize it right then.  
  
The blast smashed into the ground a few feet away from Rinoa. The ground cracked and, for the most part, vaporized underneath Rinoa's feet. She had no time to react, all the could do was fall. With no one to save her.  
  
Cloud yelled and began to fight the invisible bond, just as Griever had before. Cloud thought of Tifa while fighting. How her death would be in vein if he didn't retrieve the stone. He thought of Vincent, who was now living inside of Yuffie, and how his death would also be in vein.   
  
"I WILL NOT FAIL!!!!" Cloud screamed as he pressed against the force of Adel's mind. Instantly he was freed. He launched himself down the hole hoping the hole was deep enough that Rinoa was still falling. She was. Cloud grabbed her wrist with no time to spare. If he would've broken free 2 seconds after he actually had Rinoa would've been killed.  
  
Cloud flew down and set her on the ground. She embraced him almost instantly. "Thank you so much Cloud. I am eternally grateful. But we should be getting back to the group. Adel might attack because of your absence...we can't waste any time." Cloud nodded, grabbed her hand, and opened his wings. He flew upwards at a pretty fast speed. He looked at the top of the hole. Something didn't look right to him. But he couldn't place his finger on it. So he kept flying.  
  
  
  
~~~  
  
Adel flew about 250 feet away from the group, devoid of Cloud and Rinoa, and landed. She started walking towards the group slowly, pulling out Griever's spear as she progressed.  
  
The group was horrified. Cloud was gone and wouldn't get there in time to save them, given Adel's present speed. Yuffie Stepped forward.  
  
"I'll have to do it," she said, "It's up to me." The group was about to reject when Yuffie began to glow. Yuffie's appearance began to change immediately. Her skin changed from pink to a deep black and she grew wings and a tail. Her body enlarged to about twice her normal size. She had become Darkside. "This is our last hope" was the last thing she said before she took off to face Adel one on one.  
  
Yuffie sped forward toward the still walking Adel. She was horrified at what she was about to do. But she had no other choice, what other option did she have. Adel's hideous face came closer every second. It would only be a few more moments.  
  
  
  
~~~  
  
Cloud had slowed down some to investigate the top of the hole. He decided he was imagining things so he started to speed up when all the sudden a vision of Yuffie and Adel fighting flashed in his head. It seemed to real to him to be fake. This worried him. Perhaps an Oracle was giving him a message. Cloud sped up to almost double the speed he had started at.  
  
He kept looking at the opening. He squinted and then it hit him. There were pebbles "sitting" on the hole's opening. They were floating there. Cloud stopped and floated where he was for a few seconds, then searched for something to throw at the opening. The only thing that Squall was wearing that Cloud could through was a ring. He pulled it off and hurled it at the opening. The ring made a hollow echoing clunk noise as it hit the opening and bounced back towards him. It was as he suspected. Force field. Or else someone didn't want them to escape.  
  
  
  
Cloud had to escape somehow. He felt the charred, soil walls of the hole. Only they weren't bumpy and rough like he suspected. They felt like he was pressing against..."Nothing," Cloud said to himself, "I'm pressing against nothing." He pressed harder against the barrier separating him from the confines of the hole to the outside world. There was no way out. He was trapped in a cylindrical prison composed of nothing but brain waves. Cloud flew back to the bottom and sat down, on nothing, while he thought. Rinoa seemed to be talking to herself. She was chanting some unintelligible nonsense. Cloud closed his eyes and thought long and hard about the essentiality of his freedom, and what he would do to obtain it.  
  
  
  
~~~  
  
Yuffie finally met Adel. Adel struck first without stopping or slowing her pace. Yuffie dodged the swing of the spear, although just barely, and took a swing at Adel's head. Adel moved her head slightly, but enough to dodge the blow. Adel swung more violently and also barely missed Yuffie. Adel was beginning to get frustrated. "There is no sense letting a simple insect such as yourself disrupt my walk. I'll have a great pleasure in destroying you, along with your comrades." Adel lifted herself off the ground and hovered there a second before disappearing.  
  
Yuffie heard something to her left and grabbed in that direction. Adel appeared. Yuffie had grabbed the pole and stopped her attack, although Yuffie herself had no idea how she was doing it.  
  
Electricity began surrounding the fist Yuffie used to clutch the spear with the death-grip of death-grips. Yuffie's eyes erupted ina violently white light and the spear exploded into a million pieces. Yuffie used her other hand to backhand where she thought Adel would be with all her might, she felt extremely relieved when she felt Adel's head snap backwards because of her attack.  
  
"Filthy vermin. You may have been lucky with those last two techniques, but your luck ends here. I WILL destroy you. You better believe it. Your time is near, nearer than you think. You made a grave mistake fighting me." Adel snarled. Both Yuffie and Adel disappeared.  
  
Huge geysers of sand began erupting from random places on the ground. Yuffie was doing a MUCH better job than Griever was, but it was obvious her endurance would slow down pretty quickly.  
  
Adel and Yuffie reappeared again and stood facing each other for several moments. Out of the corner of her eyes, Yuffie caught a glimpse of Zell beginning to glow. She knew what he was going to do. And she had to make sure that she put Adel right where Zell wanted her to be.  
  
Yuffie was adamant about keeping Adel from noticing Zell charge his attack so she stayed in her line of vision all the time. She did this pretty well, for the most part. Adel caught a glimpse of him after he began charging. Which was not a good thing. Yuffie had to think fast. At once she jumped upwards, flung her tail forward, wrapped it around Adel's neck and began to squeeze.  
  
The pressure Adel was feeling around her neck was a bit much. She could only handle a little more before she would have to fight for air. She knew if she fluxed her power the tail would be removed, but she didn't wanna use anymore energy than was necessary. Big mistake. And she would soon realize why.  
  
Zell, who was now totally engulfed in a florescent shimmering light, was charging forward with incredible speed. Small sparks of electricity jumped around him. He rushed forward seemingly running on air towards the now-being-strangled Adel. He felt a great satisfaction in realizing his plan would probably work. But he could only totally feel good about it after he felt his fist pummel her.  
  
Yuffie was squeezing with so much force that Adel's nose began to bleed. Now it was certain she wasn't immortal. Yuffie heard the sound of Zell's approaching footsteps and turned her head to take a look. She had about 5 seconds to act before he would blow past her. So she drew her leg back, and gave Adel a quick slam in the face before pulling her tail back swiftly, thus pulling Adel towards Zell.  
  
What happened next happened in what seemed like ultimate slow motion. Yuffie released her tail from Adel's neck and disappeared. Adel was thrown forward right into Zell's line of fire. He skidded to a halt and all the light swirled around his fist. He yelled something and then slammed his fist forward. Adel had no chance to block or dodge, she received the full brunt of the attack.  
  
The light swirling around Zell's fist was transferred to Adel before the slow motion stopped and she was sent hurtling backwards with such a force that Zell was almost caught in the back draft that she created. She slammed into the ground and created a crater for herself some many feet away from the group. Yuffie reappeared close to the group and Zell also retreated back.  
  
They thought they had put Adel out of commission long enough for Cloud to return from saving Rinoa. They thought wrong.  
  
At once the ground within a 70 foot radius, around and down, was vaporized. Electricity surged around Adel with such force that the group considered her lucky to be able to endure it. She was more powerful than ever. And twice as mad.  
  
And the only person who stood a chance against her was stuck in a cylindrical prison about a mile away. But he may as well have been 10000.....  
  
The sky surged into total darkness as Adel lunged toward the group.........  
  
Afterward- I hope this chapter was exciting enough to be worth the wait of all you people crunching at the bit for the next chapter! I will be sure to update more frequently now, now that I have more free time! 


End file.
